Catalonia seeks two-week curfew extension with tighter rules

The Catalan government is seeking to extend the overnight curfew for another two weeks while passing tighter rules to increase the number of municipalities that are required to abide by the measure.

While Catalonia is two weeks past the infection peak of the fifth wave of the pandemic, caused by the rapid spread of the Delta variant, hospitalizations are on the rise and intensive care units are under "very high" pressure, as warned by the government spokesperson Patrícia Plaja on Tuesday. 

With 161 municipalities currently enforcing the 1 to 6 am curfew, the measure affects towns with a Covid-19 incidence rate of 400 or more cases per 100,000 inhabitants over the past seven days.

Now, the government wants to lower the threshold from 400 to 250 cases, which would greatly increase the number of towns forced to comply.