Date Published: 03/06/2020
ARCHIVED - Murcia region asks to move into phase 3 from Monday
ARCHIVED ARTICLE This permits greater freedom and is the final stage before the end of de-escalation
Having achieved 12 days without deaths, the Murcian regional government has decided that the region is ready to move forward once again and has announced that it has requested that the region move forward into phase 3 of the de-escalation process on Monday morning.
The request includes the municipality of Totana, which only moved into phase 2 this week due to a now contained outbreak nearly three weeks ago.
The petition of the regional government is supported by the latest data produced by the Epidemiology Service, which confirms that the region meets all of the required parameters established by the Ministry of Health. After evaluating these reports, the Ministry will decide, if appropriate, to move the Region to Phase 3.
Although the government is generally happy with the criteria laid out for the phase 3 transition, it has requested clarification on some points and made its suggestions for modifications. The normal process is for the regional governments to make their requests and offer their own suggestions for points which require clarification by Wednesday, and then the Ministry of Health will consider the points raised, examine the performance of each area and then decide by Friday/Saturday which areas of the country will be permitted to move into subsequent phases.
The actual details of what will change in the individual phases is published in the BOE on a Saturday.
Our regional government has proposed that the number of people permitted to participate in an outdoor activity together is limited to 100 and 50 for indoor activities instead of the 200 and 80 currently proposed for phase 3.
It has also suggested that the maximum number of people authorized to gather in private gatherings or business functions be limited to 20, not 80, and that group sizes for active tourism be limited to 30.
Following the arrival in Murcia last week of four immigrant passengers on an overnight bus service, one of whom proved Covid positive, the regional government has also requested that public and business transport companies be required to nominalize the ticket on interprovincial, medium or long distance lines throughout the country, in order to identify users, as well as facilitate the tracking of possible contacts, in case the user proves to be contagious.
For the general public the principal change in phase 3 will be that bars and restaurants can once again amplify the number of tables positioned in outdoor spaces and it will once again be permitted to sit at a bar and enjoy a bit of tapas indoors, providing that a minimum separation of two meters is guaranteed.
Weddings can resume indoors and outdoors, providing the established number of attendees is limited, competitive sport can resume, re-opening of community areas in shopping centres is permitted, communal areas in hotels etc can re-open, cultural activities can resume in libraries and museums, cinemas, theaters, auditoriums, circuses etc. as long as seats are pre-sold and the number of seasts does not exceed half of the authorized capacity in each room.
Organised activities for children will also resume, with limits on group sizes to be established by the regional government.