Madrid, Barcelona ease coronavirus lockdown, meeting friends allowed from Monday

Madrid and Barcelona continue to ease coronavirus restrictions. Meeting friends and relatives will be allowed from Monday, while cafes and bars will reopen their outdoor areas at a next stage.

Most of the Spanish population has already been enjoying this for a week. The Spanish authorities warned that easing the lockdown could have different paces given the situation in this or that region. From Monday, the residents of Madrid and Barcelona will be allowed to meet friends and relatives living in the same province. However, they are not allowed to gather in groups of more than ten people.

Strolls and outdoor sports are still allowed only within the time intervals that were earlier established for different groups of people. Besides, Spaniards are not yet allowed to leave the provinces where they live. Bars, cafes and restaurants will open their outdoor areas for the visitors, but only half of the usual number of tables can be occupied, and they will be disinfected after each client.

Also, gyms, museums and churches will reopen partially. Hotels will also be reopened, but without opening common areas, dining rooms and swimming pools. Hunting and fishing will also be allowed.

Meanwhile, almost half of the population lives in the regions that will launch on Monday a third out of four stages of easing coronavirus restrictions. At this stage, they are still not allowed to leave their provinces, but time intervals for walks and outdoor sports will be abolished. Meeting relatives is also allowed, on condition that no more than 15 people get together. Cafes and restaurants will be servicing clients indoor, not only in the open, like it was the case at the previous stage. However, no more than 40% of the tables can be occupied. Beaches and swimming pools will reopen, as well as shopping centers, theaters, movie theaters and gyms with restrictions as to the number of visitors in the same time interval. Weddings can be celebrated once again, given that the number of guests does not exceed 50 people if a wedding takes place indoors.

Earlier, the Spanish authorities made it compulsory for residents older than six to wear facemasks in the street and in the premises of common areas if it is impossible to keep the distance of two meters from each other. Those who violate these rules face fines between 600 to 30,000 euro.

Spain reports 235,800 coronavirus cases as of now, with 28,752 fatalities. Madrid and Catalonia are the hardest hit. Since mid-March, a high alert mode is in place in the country, with travel inside the country restricted. So far, this mode has been extended until June 7. The Cabinet of Ministers may once again ask the parliament to prolong these measures. According to local media, the Spanish government does not rule out that these measures can be abolished in certain regions earlier than in others.

On April 28, the government presented a stage-by-stage plan for relaxing coronavirus restrictions, which is designed until at least the end of June and has four phases. On May 23, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said that in July Spain was expecting to see its first foreign tourists. A ten-day national mourning for victims of COVID-19 will be declared in the country shortly.

In late December 2019, Chinese officials notified the World Health Organization (WHO) about the outbreak of a previously unknown pneumonia in the city of Wuhan, in central China. Since then, cases of the novel coronavirus - named COVID-19 by the WHO - have been reported in every corner of the globe.

On March 11, 2020, the WHO declared the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic. According to the latest statistics, over 5.3 million people have been infected worldwide and more than 340,000 deaths have been reported.