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Bar terraces in Spain will be allowed 50 percent capacity from May 11th

Gatherings of up to ten people will also be permitted from that date onwards as part of Spain’s Phase 1 plan to ease Covid-19 lockdown measures.

Published: 3 May 2020 16:05 CEST
Bar terraces in Spain will be allowed 50 percent capacity from May 11th
Photo: AFP

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez announced on Saturday that restaurants and bars with terraces will be able to operate at 50 percent of their full capacity as part of the government’s “Fase 1” plans. 

The government’s decision follows complaints from bar and restaurant owners, who had said it would bankrupt them to open up with only 30 percent capacity as was initially planned.

Some food and catering associations have argued that working at half of their usual capacity will also prove financially unfeasible as employers will still pay all returning staff but only have 50 percent of normal profits.

The measures will be introduced from Monday May 11th across Spain, apart from in some of the smaller islands in the Balearics and Canaries where Phase 1 will be implemented Monday May 4th due to their very low rate of Covid-19 cases.

Phase 1 will be rolled out on a case by case basis in each province, depending on the evolution of infections in their area.

Bars and restaurants that open on this date will only be able to serve customers outdoors under this plan and not inside their premises for the time being.

The other main update to Spain’s Phase 1 plan is that gatherings of up to ten people per group will also be allowed from May 11th.

These can take place at a private address or outdoors but under no circumstances can people who are part of the high risk group attend these meetings. 

Phase 0 starts on Monday May 4th for most of Spain, a stage which will allow selected small businesses and shops to be accessible to the public through private appointments.

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COVID-19

Public Health Agency recommends two Covid doses next year for elderly

Sweden's Public Health Agency is recommending that those above the age of 80 should receive two doses of a Covid-19 vaccine a year, once in the spring and once in the autumn, as it shifts towards a longer-term strategy for the virus.

Published: 23 December 2022 10:53 CET
Public Health Agency recommends two Covid doses next year for elderly

In a new recommendation, the agency said that those living in elderly care centres, and those above the age of 80 should from March 1st receive two vaccinations a year, with a six month gap between doses. 

“Elderly people develop a somewhat worse immune defence after vaccination and immunity wanes faster than among young and healthy people,” the agency said. “That means that elderly people have a greater need of booster doses than younger ones. The Swedish Public Health Agency considers, based on the current knowledge, that it will be important even going into the future to have booster doses for the elderly and people in risk groups.” 

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People between the ages of 65 and 79 years old and young people with risk factors, such as obesity, diabetes, poor kidney function or high blood pressure, are recommended to take one additional dose per year.

The new vaccination recommendation, which will start to apply from March 1st next year, is only for 2023, Johanna Rubin, the investigator in the agency’s vaccination programme unit, explained. 

She said too much was still unclear about how long protection from vaccination lasted to institute a permanent programme.

“This recommendation applies to 2023. There is not really an abundance of data on how long protection lasts after a booster dose, of course, but this is what we can say for now,” she told the TT newswire. 

It was likely, however, that elderly people would end up being given an annual dose to protect them from any new variants, as has long been the case with influenza.

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