COVID-19

Alicante has announced a special COVID-19 unit of 100 agents will patrol the 'rule of six' and curfews this bank holiday weekend. The harsh measures implemented in Spain's Valencian Community have put an end to any hope of traditional Halloween parties this long weekend. The provinces of Alicante, Valencia and Castellón received special guidelines last Saturday to reduce any reunion – public or private – to maximum six people, while […]

Spain's Congress of Deputies voted 194 v 53 in favour of a state of alarm until May 2021, with 99 abstentions. Spain's second state of alarm – published in the BOE last Sunday – will remain until at least May next year. Unlike the previous state of alarm (14th March - 20th June), this second state of alarm to fight the COVID-19 pandemic will not be reviewed every two weeks. […]

*UPDATE: Cataluña has also announced border closure for the next 15 days. Ten autonomous communities in Spain have now closed their frontiers to tackle rising COVID-19 cases. Four of Spain's 17 regions will soon close territorial borders following the entrance of Spain's second state of alarm last Sunday. The border closures are strategically timed to avoid movement between regions during the upcoming Todos los Santos bank holiday. The regions are: […]

France and Germany have announced second nationals lockdown this evening. French President Emmanuel Macron will lockdown 67 million French citizens from this Friday, 30th October, he announced on national TV. German Chancellor Angela Merkel earlier this evening announced a four-week lockdown for 83 million Germans from Saturday, 31st October. The French lockdown is expected to last until 1st December. Until then all citizens must stay at home except for an […]

Police authorities across the Valencian Community (Alicante, Valencia and Castellón) fined around 140 people last Sunday morning. Spain's Valencian region implemented a 00:00 - 06:00 curfew in effect from midnight Saturday. But despite widespread media coverage, police fined some 140 people for not respecting the toque de queda. Police figures seen by Valencian Daily Las Provincias show 300 fines for breaking COVID-19 restrictions – the majority, some 40%, were for […]

Xabia was included in a list of municipalities with COVID-19 outbreaks for the first time since the start of the pandemic. The Valencian Community's department of health (Sanitat) included Javea/ Xabia in its list of COVID-19 outbreaks last Saturday. Sanitat classes an 'outbreak' as a cluster of infections with a known source – in Javea's case, the infections occurred in a workplace within the municipality. The outbreak in Javea has […]

Spain rushed through a second nationwide 'state of alarm' on Sunday, 25th October, to fight the COVID-19 pandemic. In a televised press briefing on Sunday, PM Pedro Sanchez announced a nationwide state of alarm to last until '9th May' next year. The official text in Spain's national bulletin (read it here) introduces a national curfew from 23:00 - 06:00 every night. The Valencian Community has introduced its own curfew with […]

The government of the Valencian Community (inc. Alicante, Valencia and Castellón) has imposed extra measures to control COVID-19 outbreaks. The special measures are set to last until 6th December, and are more restrictive than the nationwide curfew announced across Spain last Sunday. In the provinces of Alicante, Valencia and Castellón, residents are prohibited from leaving their homes between 00:00 - 06:00. (This differs from the nationwide curfew, which lasts from […]