"The situation is worrying and the data is terrible". This is the Catalan government's diagnosis of the current situation regarding the pandemic. Even so, this Tuesday Catalan executive spokesperson Patrícia Plaja has ruled out the imposition of restrictions in the short term; instead, it will wait to see how contagions evolve over the coming fortnight. The Generalitat is convinced that cases will continue to grow, but it will be the magnitude of this growth that will determine the measures to be taken. This means that, unless there is a drastic change in the situation, there will be no new restrictions over Christmas.

Catalonia's High Court has endorsed the fifteen-day extension to the measure restricting access to bars and restaurants –except outdoors–, nightclubs, gyms and care homes for the elderly to covid pass holders. It will also be required to enter theatres, cinemas, auditoriums or circuses when there is dancing or catering inside. This measure will be in force at least until Thursday 23 December, just before Christmas.

What happens if someone drinks inside a bar but does not have a covid pass? And if they have used someone else's certificate? Since last Friday, both actions are subject to fines. However, no fines have been handed down in the first days the requirement has come into force. So far Catalonia has avoided heavy-handed policing of the measure: although it is two months since covid passes becane compulsory to enter nightclubs, the police are yet to issue a single fine. In fact, businesses are confident that the Catalan Government will not be strict in its control of the covid pass requirement, because they point out that the regulation is ambiguous and that they have reached an agreement with the administration to be flexible in order to facilitate its application.

Catalonia's High Court has given the extension of the use of the covid pass the green light. Thus, from midnight on Friday it will be necessary to show a covid pass (which states whether a person has been vaccinated, has tested negative or gas recovered from the disease) to access the interior of restaurants and bars, as well as gyms and nursing homes, Government sources have confirmed. The Court accept the measure due to the "worsening" of the pandemic in recent weeks.

In just one week, there has been a 57% increase in new covid diagnoses in Catalonia, with new hospital admissions going up by a third. The curve of the sixth wave is beginning to take shape, but if it finally does shoot up, its effects are expected to be much milder than in previous waves. This would be thanks to vaccination, which has reached 74.8% of the population. "We are at a medium level of concern: the scenario after the summer with small outbreaks has changed and cases are growing in a generalized, but moderate way," explains the physicist of the Computational Biology and Complex Systems Group (Biocomsc), Clara Prats. However, the experts consulted warn that we cannot rely on vaccination –which does not prevent contagion– and that we must take extreme precautions to prevent the surge from getting out of control. "We have to be psychologically prepared to take steps backwards, but now we still have time for less harmful options than resorting to the closure of sectors or lockdowns. The first is to extend the use of the covid certificate," says Salvador Macip, a doctor and researcher at the University of Leicester .

News regarding the use of the covid certificate in Catalonia. The Department of Health's scientific advisory committee on covid-19 wants this access measure to be extended to restaurants, cultural venues and gyms, especially if the pandemic figures continue to rise. The president of the committee, Dr Magda Campins, explained in an interview on channel 3/24 that the measure will be presented in the next few days and that it will very "probably" be "the next step" in terms of restrictions.