Catalonia to close bars, restaurants amid virus surge

By Alyssa McMurtry

OVIEDO, Spain (AA) - Officials in the Spanish region of Catalonia announced a series of “severe” contention measures Wednesday to help stop the spread of the coronavirus, including the closure of all bars and restaurants.

Sporting events will also be suspended, while gyms, malls and movie theaters will have to significantly reduce maximum capacity.

Officials urged businesses and universities to move online wherever possible and told individuals to avoid unnecessary movement and social contact.

The measures will take effect late Thursday night and early Friday and last at least 15 days, Catalan Premier Pere Aragones said at a news conference.

“If we want to avoid a full lockdown within the next weeks, we have to act now,” he said.

Local health data shows the regional reproduction rate of the virus is about 1.35, meaning every 100 cases of the coronavirus are snowballing into an additional 135.

The measures make Catalonia the first Spanish region to take such economically consequential mitigation measures and officials said they will introduce a new package to help the hospitality sector.

But Catalonia is far from the worst-affected region of Spain. Its infection rate is the same as the Spanish national average of 263 cases per 100,000 people in the past two weeks, according to data from the Spanish Ministry of Health.

Infection rates in the Madrid and Melilla regions are nearly double that of Catalonia. In Navarra, the viral spread is almost three times as dense.

Yet in those areas, as in the rest of Span, indoor bars and restaurants remain open.

And the city of Madrid, which is cordoned off after the central government declared a state of emergency, has avoided closing any businesses besides nightclubs.

But Catalan government officials said the strategy is to get ahead of the accelerating infection before it brings the health care system to the brink of collapse, which has already occurred in other parts of Spain during the second wave of the pandemic.

“If we can reduce contagion now, we could save the Christmas campaign, which is extremely important for businesses,” said government spokeswoman Meritxell Budo.

The Barcelona Restaurant Association, however, already told the La Vanguardia newspaper that it will challenge the new measures in court.

The judicial system across Spain has struck down several measures to curb COVID-19, saying they illegally fringe upon individual rights and freedoms.