Autonomous Regions in Spain left to decide Closure of Nightclubs and Street Smoking Ban- La Rioja Starts Tonight

Each individual region of Spain has been left to decide when to implement the closure of nightclubs and the ban on street smoking less than two metres away from each other.

The Spanish Health authorities have introduced these new measures to stop the outbreaks, which already exceed 800 throughout Spain. Three regions have announced the implementation of the new laws starting with, La Rioja- Saturday 15th August. Galicia has said it will enforce the laws on Monday the 17th and the Valencian community follows suit on Tuesday 18th.

Although the other regions have so far not responded the restrictions are expected to be immediate and this will be the last weekend with open discotheques across the whole of Spain. The Andalusian government has yet to respond but a statement is expected on Monday at the earliest.

Already affected badly by a lack of tourism, due to the UK quarantine policy, this latest turn of events will likely affect thousands of jobs in the region- causing much concern in the business community.

“We have decided for the first time in democracy coordinated measures in the matter of public health for the benefit of all the autonomous communities and all the measures have been approved unanimously,” said the Minister of Health, Salvador Illa, who although he did not establish a deadline, urged local governments to do so “as soon as possible.” In this way,  the corresponding legal provisions to make them effective remain in the hands of the autonomous communities”, Moncloa tweeted this evening.

Isabel Díaz Ayuso, the president of the Community of Madrid, assured that the restrictions will be applied “in the coming days” in the region.

A Coruña, a municipality of Galicia, had already enforced the new rules a week ago due to the high incidence of the virus in the region.

Nightclub Industry in Ruin

The general secretary of Spain’s NightLife, Joaquim Boadas, proposes to reduce capacity, implement more security, apply greater respect for the distance between tables increased awareness as “less drastic” measures. He warned that this could ruin an industry already on the brink of collapse.

Boadas went on to say, quote: “We are going to ask for medical explanations and we are going to take these issues to court. We are many companies, 200,000 direct jobs and 1.8% of GDP. We cannot be closed like this, again, without consulting with the sector, he added, fearing that this could be the last weekend this type of business is open. Below is a link to the full 72-page document directly from the government.

https://www.lamoncloa.gob.es/serviciosdeprensa/notasprensa/sanidad14/Documents/2020/130720-respuesta-temprana-covid.pdf