Rising Covid cases is driving request of Covid passport in Spain

Rising Covid cases are driving communities to request the use of Covid passports in hospitality venues.

The Basque Country has already requested authorisation from the courts to require the vaccination certificate in access to nightlife venues and restaurants as their infection rates rise.

The rise of infections in Spain drives new measures to control the transmission of Covid. For now, there are no far-reaching or severe restrictions on the table because the epidemic situation is not as high as last autumn.

Today 79 per cent of the population is vaccinated, however, cases are on the rise with 82 per 100,000.

However, communities are looking to the covid passport as a new tool to contain contagions. The Basque Country, for example, has already requested authorisation from the courts to require the vaccination certificate in access to nightlife venues and restaurants.

Galicia has also asked the courts to be able to demand a passport or a negative test for visits to patients admitted to hospitals and for health workers.

The epidemic curve has skyrocketed 67 per cent in two weeks and although the incidence in Spain is not comparable to other European countries – in Belgium or Austria they exceed 1,000 cases per 100,000 inhabitants – there are communities, such as Navarra or the Basque Country, well above the Spanish average (203 and 174 cases per 100,000, respectively).

The proposal to expand the uses of the covid passport is gaining strength and is also configured as a lesser evil for the hospitality sector, fearful of closures as infections continue to rise and healthcare pressure will once again stress hospitals.

The Valencian Community is also looking at implementing covid passports in all places “where it is reasonable” while always trying to “flee from unnecessary restrictions”, the president of the Generalitat, the socialist Ximo Puig, assured this today, November 16.

The discussion focuses on whether it should be required only in nightclubs or whether the measure should also be taken in restaurants, bars, cinemas and theatres, according to reports.

Puig explained that the Generalitat Lawyers Office is studying legalities around the implementation of having to present a certificate in certain spaces and has said that when there is a definitive report, it will be made public and communicated to the affected sectors.

Aragon had also asked the court to allow the use of the certificate to access nightlife, however, the Superior Court of Justice suspended it.

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