Curfew no longer in place anywhere in Catalonia

There is not a 1 am to 6 am curfew anywhere in Catalonia for the first time since July 16, including the 19 municipalities where the measure has still been in place over the past week: Alcarràs, Amposta, Arenys de Munt, Badia del Vallès, Balaguer, Banyoles, Calafell, Celrà, Cervelló, Gelida, Manlleu, Martorell, Montblanc, Móra d'Ebre, Palafolls, Salt, Sant Feliu de Guíxols, Sarrià de Ter and Torroella de Montgrí.

This restriction will officially be lifted on Friday at 1 am in the morning, meaning that Wednesday night to Thursday morning was the last night it was in place. 

This comes despite the Catalan government's latest efforts to extend and reimpose the restriction in Barcelona and other cities, which were twice rejected by Catalonia's High Court. Because curfews restrict individual freedoms, authorities must obtain judicial authorization for measure every time they wish to implement it.

The government had asked to lower the criteria for which the curfew would apply, dropping the incidence rate from 250 cases per 100,000 population over the prior week to 125 but the High Court maintained it at 250. 

Authorities then asked to set the 7-day incidence rate of 125 cases per 100,000 inhabitants only in municipalities with over 20,000 residents, a request which was also rejected despite large gatherings seen in Barcelona during the Gràcia neighborhood festivities and at the beach.

Catalonia was under a 10 pm to 6 am curfew from October 2020 to May 2021. The measure was reinstated in mid-July from 1 am to 6 am as eased restrictions and the spread of the highly contagious Delta variant led to a surge in Covid-19 cases.

Other Covid-19 restrictions

In an effort to reduce Covid-19 infections, the 10-person limit on gatherings remains in place, as does the 70% capacity limit for religious events, which will only be able to have at most 1,000 to 3,000 attendees.

These restrictions were approved by the High Court on Thursday, which unlike the case of the curfew, believes authorities have sufficiently justified their use.

The rest of measures will still be in place, at least, until September 2, also including the end of all public activities across the country at 12.30 am. 

Covid-19 in Catalonia

As of August 25, 2021, official figures, released daily on this website, state there have been 957,808 confirmed Covid-19 cases.

A total of 5,632,794 residents have been given the first dose of the vaccine, 71.2% of the total population. Out of those, 4,519,756 have also been administered a second dose (57.4% of the total population). 5,115,509 residents are considered to be fully immunized (64.8%). 

While the 14-day incidence rate (now 267.36 cases per 100,000 inhabitants), outbreak risk (214), and daily case count (1,482 PCR and antigen test positives) have been decreasing in the past weeks, the transmission rate has inched up to 0.85.