Slightly eased mobility restrictions on the table

With Covid-19 restrictions set to expire on Monday, authorities are currently discussing whether to extend them or to alter them slightly ahead of an announcement expected by the end of the week.

While not certain to come into effect, Catalan government spokesperson Meritxell Budó has stated that relaxing mobility restrictions from the county to the 'Vegueria' level is one of the measures that is being considered in addition to perhaps allowing people to attend cultural events outside of their areas of residence.

Catalonia's eight 'vegueries', which roughly correspond to the health regions with Barcelona forming part of the larger metropolitan area, were the administrative divisions in place prior to the 1714 loss in sovereignty to the Bourbons.

Likewise, interior minister Miquel Sàmper has also suggested the county-level lockdown imposed after Easter to address the rise in Covid-19 cases could soon be relaxed.

Indeed, on Wednesday Sàmper told members of the southern Terres de l'Ebre region business associations, who have fiercely decried the measure, that "other territorial structures" were being studied.

According to him, the government and Civil Protection are looking into possibly applying mobility restrictions based on local epidemiological indicators rather than uniformly throughout Catalonia as has been the case until now.