Masks will be mandatory outdoors again from Friday

The masks return abroad from December 24. The Government has reintroduced its mandatory nature, with exceptions, as requested by several regional presidents and has planned to accelerate vaccination and the reinforcement of health care to try to reduce the impact of the sixth wave of covid.

Thus, the use of masks, approved today by royal decree in an extraordinary Council of Ministers, is once again mandatory on public roads with two exceptions: while doing sports or in natural areas (field, beach …) whenever it is can maintain the distance of 1.5 meters with non-cohabitants. That is, in cities or urban areas it will be necessary to carry it. It will be applicable from tomorrow, when it is published in the Official State Gazette (BOE).

“This is a temporary measure”, has indicated the Minister of Health, Carolina Darias, in a press conference in which she pointed out that the royal decree enables the Government to establish the intensification or not of the use of masks so that, in this case, ” be as soon as possible “. “The sanctioned regime remains as is,” said the minister, so skipping the order could lead to fines of 100 euros.

The measure was confirmed at the Conference of Presidents held yesterday, where Sánchez also agreed to hire retired and early retired doctors, an instrument that shows the terrible state of the National Health System in terms of the number of professionals and which was used in the spring of 2020, in the worst of the pandemic.

In addition, a guideline will be approved to facilitate the detection of infections in a scenario where health centers are saturated. Before the shortage of antigen tests in pharmacies, the Government will enable that rapid tests that are manufactured for professional use can also be purchased in these establishments.

Before yesterday’s meeting between Sánchez and the regional presidents, the measure was advanced by the Minister of Health in the Congress of Deputies. Before the words of Carolina Darias.

The governing body of pharmacists welcomed the decision. “We positively value the announced measure and we hope that it can be made effective as soon as possible since the situation of shortage of self-diagnosis tests is greatly affecting citizens, as we are seeing from the first line of health action in which pharmacies are located The greatest urgency at this time is that there is supply, “explained sources from the General Council of Pharmacists.

The daily numbers of infected cases and the more than plausible suspicion that many infected are not in the official figures returns to a situation already experienced a year ago. The only caveat is that now there are vaccinesTherefore, the hospitalized figures are not comparable with those of a year ago.

A new vaccination schedule

The Government wants to promote vaccination to face this sixth wave of the Covid-19 virus, because it is demonstrating its effectiveness against the omicron variant. Spain currently has 8 million vaccines in stock and 90 million by 2022, Darias has confirmed.

The Government’s plan includes vaccinating 80% of those over 60 years old in a week and a half, 80% of those over 50 years old before January 24 and 80% of those over 40 years old before March 24 . It should be remembered that according to the new European regulation, the covid passport will expire after 9 months to receive the second injection for those who do not receive the third booster dose.

Refering to pediatric vaccination, the Minister of Health recalled that 70% of children between 5 and 11 years old have been set, with the first pediatric dose in the week of February 7 and 70% with the second pediatric dose in the week of February 18. April.

Catalonia and Murcia get more severe

The new measures approved by the Government coincide in time with the most severe restrictions imposed in some Autonomous Communities. Catalonia stands out, where this Thursday the Superior Court of Justice (TSJC) has endorsed the request of the Government to reestablish the curfew from dawn on Friday and for 15 days, reduce capacity to 70% and limit meetings to a maximum of 10 people.

In Murcia, for its part, they have announced the closure of non-essential activity between 01:00 and 06:00 hours and the limitation of meetings to a maximum of 10 people indoors and 12 outdoors.