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Two Spanish regions impose new Covid restrictions

Two northern Spanish regions bordering France, Catalonia and Navarra, on Sunday announced new coronavirus restrictions on public life to try to tame a rise in Covid-19 infections.

Published: 11 October 2020 16:06 CEST
Two Spanish regions impose new Covid restrictions
People sit at a terrace bar overlooking the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona on July 25, 2020. Photo: Pau Barrena/AFP
In Navarra, which is home to around 650,000 people, gatherings as of Tuesday will be limited to six people, bars and restaurants must close at 10 pm and their capacity will be limited to 30 percent, regional leader Maria
Chivite said.
   
Capacity at cinemas, theatres and libraries will reduced to 30 percent while supermarkets will be limited to 40 percent, she added.
   
“We are at a critical moment, when we need to redirect the situation. We still have time. We don't want to go to a tougher scenario but that possibility exists,” Chivite told a news conference.
 
   
 
Navarra recorded 463 new Covid-19 cases on Saturday, the highest daily figure since the start of the pandemic.
   
In the northeastern region of Catalonia, which is home to around 7.5 million people, regional public health secretary Josep Maria Argimon urged companies to encourage their employees to work from home for the next 15 days.
   
He also asked universities to move their classes online during the next 15 days to reduce “social interactions”. “We will have to make sacrifices,” he said in an interview with RAC1 radio.
   
“Without taking measures, we could reach the situation in Madrid in two or three weeks,” he added.
   
The Spanish capital is currently one of Europe's Covid-19 hotspots. The infection rate in the region of Madrid currently stands at 564 cases per 100,000 people, compared with just 257 in the rest of Spain, itself the highest in the European Union.
   
Spain's central government on Friday declared a state of emergency in the Madrid region to enforce a partial lockdown in and around the Spanish capital.
  

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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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