- From Wednesday the interior opening of bars and travel will be allowed, except in Torre Pacheco and Los Alcázares
- The external border closure will remain for now, at least until three kings, with entry and exit only permitted for essential reasons, except on the designated days.
Good news at last for the people of Murcia and in particular the hostelry sector as the regional government announced on Monday that travel between most towns in the region will be once again be allowed from Wednesday 9 December as will also the internal reopening of bars and restaurants in the Region which will once again be allowed to serve food inside.
Only Los Alcázares and Torre Pacheco are not included in the easing of restrictions, due to the high incidence of the coronavirus and because they are still at high levels of risk. The decision will be reviewed in a further week.
In relation to bars and restaurants, the Minister of Health, Manuel Villegas, explained that the capacity will be limited to between 30% and 75% percent, depending on the incidence rate of the virus in each of the municipalities.
However, bars and restaurants in both Torre Pacheco and Los Alcazares will be permitted to re-open their external terraces to 75% of capacity, but may not serve food or drinks inside for the moment.
In the 8 municipalities at low risk of transmission (Beniel, Abarán, Bullas, Mula, Librilla, Lorquí, Ojós and Campos del Río), bars and restaurants will be allowed an interior capacity of 75 percent , and one hundred per hundred of the occupation in terraces, as well as the bar service.
For the 22 municipalities with the medium and high alert level (including Lorca, Cartagena and Murcia), an indoor capacity of 50 percent and the use of the terraces in full will be allowed.
As for shops, the limited capacity will continue to be half of its capacity, and for outdoor markets 75 percent while for indoor markets it will be 50 percent.
For the remaining 13 municipalities with a very high level of transmission, (including Totana, Yecla and Jumilla), hoteliers will be prohibited from serving in bars but may open the interior up to 30 percent, and also one hundred percent on their terraces. In Torre Pacheco and Los Alcázares, the interiors of the hotel and restaurant sector will remain closed, but terraces may open.
The regional president described the reduction in restrictions as “good news that will allow us to experience Christmas with fewer restrictions, especially on the most important days, but people must be aware that they involve a greater degree of responsibility for everyone.”
He said that “the measures that we adopted have paid off, and today we have the lowest incidence rates in the entire peninsula.” “The incidence has dropped by 75 percent in three weeks and we are now back at July levels in terms of the number of cases. The pressure has dropped and the number of infections have also fallen, but it is essential that we remember today that we have not finished with the virus and that the pandemic is still there.
