As of Friday there will no longer be a curfew in Catalonia, as announced this morning by Government spokesperson Patrícia Plaja. The decision was taken this Tuesday after evaluating the recommendations from the covid-19 commission. The curfew came into force on December 24 and, after receiving Catalonia's High Court's endorsement, the measure was extended until January 21. "We are convinced that the measures taken before the holidays have worked," said Plaja who, to justify the end of the curfew, which banned leaving the house between 1 am and 6 am, recalled that "it is a very invasive measure that violates a fundamental right." "It was very useful, but it is no longer useful," she added. The spokeswoman acknowledged that "there are still days to go before reaching the peak of this sixth wave", but stressed that "the most pessimistic forecasts for the growth of ICU admissions, fortunately, have not been fulfilled" and that "all the trends point to a slowdown".

If there is no radical turn of events, Catalonia will no longer have a night curfew as of January 21 and free circulation will return. This has been announced this Tuesday by government spokesperson, Patrícia Plaja, who has argued that the Generalitat has taken this decision because it expects the sixth wave to "peak" shortly and that, from then on, a new phase of "deceleration" of the pandemic will begin. In spite of this, the Catalan executive does not yet foresee lifting other restrictions and does not set a horizon to stop limiting meetings to 10 people or to put an end to the measures affecting the nightlife sector.

The curfew and the 10-person limit on gatherings will last at least until January 21, after Catalonia's High Court gave them the green light. It will remain forbidden to leave home between 1 am to 6 am and to get together with over 10 people, two decisions that affected fundamental rights and that needed judicial authorisation to be approved. In parallel, the Government had already extended all other restrictions, which did not require the courts' approval: nightclubs remain closed, capacity inside bars and restaurants is limited to 50%, while in shops, sports facilities, concert halls, theatres, cinemas, auditoriums and circuses with a tent it is reduced to 70%.

The Prosecutor's Office has changed its mind and now backs the night curfew and 10-person limit on gatherings. When the Catalan Government proposed these restrictions for the first time last December 23, the prosecutor's office rejected them because they did not see them necessary, but now, after the Government requested a 14-day extension, the Prosecutor's Office has decided not to oppose it: according to the report they have sent Catalonia's High Court, the extension of the curfew between 1 am and 6 am and the limitation of meetings is "duly justified" by the "necessity, suitability and proportionality of its maintenance and prolongation".

The Catalan government wants to extend restrictions for another fortnight, until January 21. This Tuesday, it will approve at its weekly meeting the covid commission's proposal to extend the measures in force since December 24 and originally ending January 7.

Catalonia's High Court of Justice has backed the curfew and the 10-person limit on gatherings the Generalitat requested. People will have to stay at home between 1 am and 6 am in towns of over 10,000 inhabitants with an incidence above 250 cases for every 100,000 inhabitants in the past week, as well as those adjacent to them, as proposed by the Catalan Government. The judicial endorsement comes despite opposition from the Prosecutor's Office, which had asked to overturn the restrictions because it did not consider them proportionate.

The Government has given up on curfew, at least for now. After insisting twice to try to keep it and extend it, first to 148 municipalities, and then to 62, it has finally given up and from Friday onwards it will no longer renew it in the 19 towns where it is still in force. This has been communicated in a press release which explains that the other measures of containment to curb covid-19 approved on 19 August are extended seven days.

It has been a constant since the beginning of the pandemic a year and a half ago, but there has been no way to solve it. For one reason or another, it is common for part of the restrictions to contain the pandemic to clash with the justice system, which, depending on how it interprets the law, admits or rejects the proposals of the different administrations. There are cases that perhaps seem to be an overreach by judges, such as the judge in Castellón who has forced a public hospital to give an alternative treatment which has been authorised by the health service to a patient with covid-19. This is a very dangerous precedent because it opens the door to the possibility of patients or families trying to force treatments à la carte against medical criteria, which has rightly provoked the indignation of all the medical associations and the administration. This case will be appealed and it would be desirable, for the good of the public health system, that the decision is reversed. But the most common has been that the rulings were the result of the lack of legal basis to justify the government's decision.

Catalonia's High Court has only upheld an extension of the curfew for 19 of the 148 municipalities where the Catalan Government wanted it to stay in force. The biggest one, Barcelona, has been left out of the restrictions to stop the advance of covid-19. Thus, the curfew between one and six in the morning is only authorized in the towns of Alcarràs, Amposta, Arenys de Munt, Badia del Vallès, Balaguer, Banyoles, Calafell, Celrà, Cervelló, Gelida, Manlleu, Martorell, Montblanc, Móra d'Ebre, Palafolls, Salt, Sant Feliu de Guíxols, Sarrià de Ter and Torroella de Montgrí, as reported by the court. The TSJC has authorised the 10-person limit on social and family gatherings throughout Catalonia, as well as a 30% reduction in maximum attendance in religious acts and civil ceremonies.

Despite the improvement in pandemic indicators, the Catalan Government still wants to prolong the 1 am to 6am curfew in 148 Catalan municipalities for another week at least. In order to do so it has once again toughened the requirements for towns to escape the curfew; it will affect towns and cities with a cumulative incidence of 125 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, whereas up until now the threshold was only 250. Villages with under 5,000 inhabitants will continue to be exempt.

"We feel helpless, because we cannot see how to solve it". This is the desperate appeal made by the mayoress of Llançà, Núria Escarpanter, in the face of the avalanche of parties and boozing that is seen every weekend on the beaches of her municipality, which is not included in the list of those under night curfew. This discomfort is extensible to other towns on the Costa Brava that do not have curfews and suffer a kind of call effect, since people from other places where there is a curfew move to continue the party during the night, with the corresponding inconvenience caused to the neighbourhood and the risk of contagion they represent.

Catalonia's High Court has authorised a renewed 15-day curfew in 176 Catalan municipalities, as requested by the Generalitat. In the affected areas people will have to stay at home between 1 am and 6 pm. The restriction applies to towns with over 5,000 inhabitants that have an incidence equal to or greater than 250 infections per 100,000 inhabitants - the Generalitat tightened the criteria for maintaining the curfew in the maximum number of municipalities. It also includes some populations that are surrounded by towns with this high incidence. There are 25 municipalities that enter the list and fifteen where it would no longer apply thanks to improved indicators. However, there are towns like Palafrugell and Calonge i Sant Antoni (in Baix Empordà) which asked the curfew stay in place because it is a "fundamental" tool to avoid crowds.

Third extension. The Generalitat will ask Catalonia's High Court to extend curfew for another week, until August 6. This will also mean an extension to the 10-person limit on gatherings and will affect the 162 towns and cities most affected by the pandemic. In the next few hours, the Government will send the court the epidemiological reports to justify the measure and the new list of affected areas. As announced on Tuesday by government spokeswoman Patricia Plaja towns such as Sitges, Roses and Tàrrega will no longer be affected whereas Figueres, l'Ametlla del Vallès and Terrassa will be added to the list. The restrictions that apply in these towns also involve the closure of all establishments at 00.30, as in the rest of Catalonia.

Catalonia's High Court has granted the Catalan government's request for a one-week extension to the 1 am-6 am curfew, which will come into force on Saturday across 165 towns and cities. Despite the Constitutional Court ruling that declared the first state of alarm unconstitutional, the Catalan Court considers the Government's measure to be proportionate taking into account the "dizzying" progression of the virus in recent weeks and the "explosion in infections" for those between 15 and 29.

The Catalan Govern will ask Catalonia's High Court for authorisation to extend the restrictions in force to "avoid the collapse" of the health system. According to government spokeswoman Patrícia Plaja, this would include the 1 am- 6 am curfew staying in place for another week. If the extension is approved, it would also apply to three more towns (Lleida, Roses and Salt) taking the total to 164.

The curfew, which will come into force this Friday night, will mean greater police presence on the streets of the 161 municipalities affected, to enforce the new rules. The reinforcement of officers in Barcelona will be concentrated in areas where there have been more crowds lately, such as beaches. The head of Barcelona's local police, the Guardia Urbana, has explained that officers in the afternoon shift will stay on for a few more hours "until there is more calm and security". The night shift will also be reinforced, with between 20% and 25% more officers.

Catalonia will again be under curfew, at least for a few days. Catalonia's High Court validated the Generalitat's request for a curfew between 1.00 h and 6.00 h in 161 municipalities in Catalonia. The Prosecutor's Office has not opposed the restrictions and the court has also chosen to authorise it, taking into account the "terrible" cumulative incidence data in recent weeks, which has caused even the European Union to advise against entering or leaving Catalonia. The measure will come into force when it is published in the Official Journal of the Generalitat (DOGC) -predictably this afternoon-, but High Court already stated the curfew would only be valid for a week, because the Constitutional Court's ruling declaring the first state of alarm void means the measure is non-extendable

There will finally also be a curfew in Santa Cristina d'Aro, Altafulla and Caldes d'Estrac as long as the Catalan government's measure receives the backing of Catalonia's High Court. These towns have been included in the 1am-6am curfew at the last minute because they are completely surrounded by towns where the curfew would be in place due to high incidence of the disease. Thus, the government hopes to avoid people travelling around to avoid the harshest restrictions. All in all, 161 municipalities with populations over 5,000 will be affected. In fact, the situation is "critical", the authorities insist, to pointing out that if they were to follow the Ministry of Health's thresholds of "all Catalonia would be closed," in Catalan minister of Health,Josep Maria Argimon's words.

The Government has called an emergency meeting this afternoon of the commission of covid to agree on the the curfew for Catalonia. In the meeting a decision will be made as to where the curfew will be imposed, as t he Catalan government aims to use this restriction only in worst-hit areas. In principle, the curfew would start at 1:00 am and end at 6:00 am. From 0.30 am the Generalitat has also ordered a close of all activities and restriction on access to public spaces, such as parks, squares and beaches.

The Catalan minister of Health, Josep Maria Argimon, has admitted this Monday that he did not expect an escalation in covid-19 contagion on the scale that has affected Catalonia in the past fortnight. "I thought there would be an upturn, but never this explosion in cases," he admitted without hiding his disappointment. The fact is that the virus runs rampant among younger population, with a cumulative incidence at 14 days of over 3,000 cases per 100,000 inhabitants between the ages of 15 and 29.