ARCHIVED - Bars and restaurants in some areas of the Murcia Region can re-open on Saturday

The situation will be assessed every Monday

The current closure order will remain in place in 35 of the 45 municipalities in the region on Saturday.

After a week of intense speculation about whether the Murcian regional health service would permit the re-opening of bars and restaurants in the region at the end of the 2 week closure period, it has been confirmed on Thursday evening that a new system will be implemented from the end of this week to allow the re-opening of the hostelry sector based on strict criteria laid down in a 4-tier system.

Full details of this will be published on Friday in the BOE and this will allow the bars and restaurants in municipalities which have achieved a low level of infections to re-open from Saturday.

Only the external terraces of these hostelries are allowed to re-open and no service at the bar or inside of the premises is permitted.

Full distancing between tables must be maintained and the number of 6 diners at a table remains in place. Masks must be worn when not engaged in the act of eating or sipping a drink.

The three municipalities in which hostelries are permitted to open to 100% of their terrace capacity are; Águilas, Ulea and Ojós.

The municipalities in which terraces may open to 75% capacity are; Abarán, Beniel, Cartagena, Lorquí, Santomera, Pliego and Molina de Segura

The situation in each municipality will be assessed individually on a Monday morning and decisions made every week based on the accumulated incidence rate per 100,000 of population and a number of other factors.

Three other municipalities, which include Mazarrón, Campos del Río and Las Torres de Cotillas currently have sufficiently low levels of AI to permit them to re-open their hostelry sector, but the assessment for this week was made based on the situation of Monday morning this week, so these municipalities will not be permitted to re-open from Saturday.

The 2 graphics show the municipalities in descending order of AI rate as of today and the current number of new cases per municipality per 7 and 14 day period a well as the AI rate for each, showing which municipalities are closest to being able to re-open.

The regional president, Fernando López Miras is adamant that his government will only permit establishments to re-open when the epidemiological situation in each municipality permits; an incentive for residents to comply with the restrictions and do everything possible to try and limit the spread of the virus.

The regional government has also extended the closure of the external border of the region and internal municipal boundaries to the 9th December.

Obviously, the situation will now exist whereby some municipalities have open bars and others don’t, increasing the temptation to “border-hop for a beer” in cases where there are no local police patrols on the roads.

The regional government continues to send out its message that bringing down case numbers is the responsibility of all of us and life can only return to normal once the virus has been overcome and for that, we must all take individual responsibility.

NB; Please note, both Opinión and Verdad published erroneous details of the municipalities in which the hostelry sector could re-open earlier this evening, both articles subsequently updated following the press conference.Only bars in the ten municipalities will re-open on Saturday although of course, this situation may change on Monday. (logically, this does not mean that the bars will re-open on the same day as the decision is made........)