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Spain’s Andalusia to allow travel between provinces after three-month wait

Andalusia's regional government has announced that provincial border closures will be lifted on Thursday April 29th, whilst the region’s borders and other restrictions remain in place. 

Spain's Andalusia to allow travel between provinces after three-month wait
From Thursday April 29th, it will no longer be necessary to have a justified reason to travel between Andalusia's 8 provinces. Photo: Ander Guillenea/AFP

Travel between Andalusia’s 8 provinces will be possible again on Thursday after three months of border closures to stem the spread of Covid-19 infections. 

Andalusian regional president Juanma Moreno made the announcement after meeting with the committee of experts that advises the Andalusian Government on the management of the coronavirus crisis.

Residents of Andalusia will therefore be able to travel again to Almería, Cádiz, Córdoba, Granada, Huelva, Jaén, Málaga and Seville provinces without having to provide a justified reason for crossing their provincial borders. 

However, many of the other restrictions in the region will remain in place until at least May 9th, which marks the end of Spain’s state of alarm.

These are:

Andalusia’s regional borders closure will remain, with travellers having to provide a justified reason to leave or enter the autonomous community, such as going to health or educational centres, to take care of elderly relatives or dependants, to return to a usual place of residence or work/administrative reasons. 

The curfew from 11pm to 6am will continue.

A maximum of 6 people can meet outdoors and 4 indoors in bars and restaurants.

Shops and bars can stay open until 10.30pm. Restaurants can stay open an extra half an hour, but that coincides with the curfew time. 

Municipal border closures will remain in places where the infection rate has surpassed 500 cases per 100,000 inhabitants. In the majority of cases, shops and bars can stay open in these municipalities until 10.30pm. 

Municipalities where the infection rate is over 1,000 cases per 100,000 people have to keep all non-essential retailers and services closed.

Andalusia, Spain’s largest and most populated region with 8.4 million inhabitants, currently has a fortnightly infection rate of 237 cases per 100,000, a rate which has been dropping gradually over the past days.

A total of 8.2 percent of its population has received both doses of the Covid-19 vaccine; 21 percent have received at least one dose.

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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.

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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