Lanzarote and La Graciosa will be the first islands to be placed in Level 4 after the Canarian Government yesterday decided that stricter measures were required in order to deal with the continued rise in Covid-19 cases on the island. The new restrictions will apply from midnight tonight, Friday 22nd January.
Level 4 measures include the following:
- Meetings in public and private spaces are limited to two people, unless those people live together.
- Up to four people who live together may meet at tables in bars and restaurants. The limit of two applies if they do not share a household. A 50% limit applies to capacity, and indoor service remains prohibited.
- The 10 pm to 6am curfew on movement outside the house except for “justified causes” will continue.
- All non-essential businesses and activities must close by 6pm. There is a long list of exceptions includes chemists, supermarkets, food shops, health centres, vets and home delivery services.
- Restaurants, cafés and bars must close by 6pm, but may remain open until 10 pm for deliveries and collection of takeaways.
- Shops and shopping centres must operate at 25% of capacity.
- Working from home is “preferable”, where possible, and shift work is encouraged to avoid contact between work colleagues. Necessary work meetings are permitted if masks are worn, distancing is observed and a 33% capacity observed.
- Beaches are limited to 50% capacity, and natural pools to 33%. Only individual sports may be practiced on beaches.
There are also a list of other measures affecting sporting activities, religious gatherings, markets etc, which should be consulted by anyone who may be affected. In general they establish a limit of 50% capacity outdoors and 25% indoors.
The decision has been taken after Lanzarote’s 14-day rate increased by 25 times in just three weeks. The island now has a 14-day rate of 698.67 per 100,000 people – by far the highest in the Canaries, but by no means the highest in Spain, where several communities including Andalusia, Valencia, Castilla y León and Extremadura have rates well into four figures.
Government spokesman Julio Pérez said “This is not a lockdown, but there will be very little one can do in the street.” Pérez confirmed that the aim of the measures was to limit movement and try to persuade people to stay at home. Regional governments, however, do not have the powers to confine people to their homes outside of the curfew measures granted by the Spanish Government in its State of Alarm.
Yesterday, a further 77 cases were registered on the island, bringing the overall total to 948. Two elderly residents – a man and a woman – were reported to have died yesterday, bringing the overall death toll on the island to 13.
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