Society

End of the health emergency

EITB AVERAGE

The decree that deactivates the health emergency has been published this Thursday and there are no longer limits on hours, capacity and groups of people.

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The most restrictive measures to curb the covid-19 pandemic remain deactivated this Thursday, after the publication in the Official Gazette of the Basque Country of the decree of the Lehendakari, Iñigo Urkullu, which puts an end to the health emergency.

Although some restrictions such as the use of the mask will remain valid, there will be no limits on hours and capacity, and the rule that establishes a maximum number of people per group will decline. People will be able to consume at the bar counter or enjoy a concert standing up, and meet as many people as they want without fear of breaking any law.

The institutions are preparing for the new phase and have already begun to make the first decisions regarding gradually recover normality in different areas.

Thus, the departments of Education and Health of the Basque Government last a new health protocol for schools which will be presented this week and will be applied from next Monday, October 11.

The provincial councils of Álava, Bizkaia and Gipuzkoa have also announced that they will update the anticovid protocol that apply in residences.

The main novelty resides in the visits, which as of this Thursday, may be carried out not only in the rooms of the users and outside, but also in the common areas of each center.

Normality will also return to the cultural agenda. The Durango Book and Record Fair It will be held between December 4 and 8 and will once again be face-to-face, uniting the public with creators.

The Bilbao Coffee Theater will open its doors this Thursday after having been closed for 19 months, and the Bilbao BKK Live Autumn it will be the first festival that can be enjoyed standing up.

In addition, the Bilbao City Council has announced by surprise that the White Night will be held this weekend.

With the end of the health emergency, the popular festivals that have been suspended for two consecutive years due to covid-19.

In that sense, the San Sebastián City Council has confirmed it will recover its two main holiday events of the winter, the Santo Tomas Fair (December 21) and the Drummed (January 19).

Likewise, the mayor of Toulouse, Olatz Peon, has announced in a interview on Euskadi Irratia that in 2022 the carnivals, and that the City Council will work for it with the rest of the agents.

Although all these announcements show that the return to normality is already underway, the authorities insist on demanding “prudence” and “responsibility” because the covid-19 pandemic has not ended.

Bilbao deactivates the municipal emergency plan

In this context, the Bilbao City Council has also deactivated the municipal emergency plan, initially activated on March 13, 2020. Deactivated for the first time in June 2020, the evolution of the pandemic made it necessary to reactivate it in August last year.

The mayor of Bilbao, Juan Mari Aburto, has appealed to act with “responsible optimism and remain vigilant, without forgetting the health surveillance situation” in which the Basque Country lives on the first day after the health emergency declined since Thursday.

Regarding whether, after what happened in previous weekends with the bottles, he feared that this first weekend without restrictions will increase the crowds of young people outdoors, Aburto has announced that from the government team they will continue working so that ” coexistence is possible in Bilbao “, for which he has confirmed that from this weekend there will be” a police effort and it will continue to be sanctioned “, also appealing” to the responsibility of the people. “

It has also been confident that the reopening of nightlife and youth venues and markets “are elements that help us to make the street work in a different way.”

In this sense, he stated that the objective is “to seek a balance between interests, sometimes conflicting, so that young people have fun but also neighbors can rest” and achieve that balance “always from a solidarity point of view, because what I do have to worry because it has consequences for others “.

The first mayor has also announced that this year the St. Thomas fair.