Government considers excluding children from Christmas gatherings' limitations

Sàmper assures modifying the municipal lockdown during December bank holiday is not on the cards

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2 min
El Mercat de la Boqueria de Barcelona.

BarcelonaThe Minister of Home Affairs, Miquel Sàmper, has acknowledged that the Government is studying the possibility of excluding children from the limitations on gatherings in Catalonia -which is now at a maximum of 6 people and could rise to 10 people in a few weeks time, before Christmas- due to their low contagion capacities. "We have to talk at Procicat. It is a topic that we even talk about in the Whatsapp groups that we have for the covid-19 follow-up structure", admitted Sàmper this Saturday in an interview with RAC1 explained by the ACN.

"However, this is for doctors and health authorities to decide", said the minister, who made it clear that it would be a "different" Christmas in order to avoid a third wave. Sàmper also assured that he did not foresee any modification of the municipal lockdown during the December bank holiday.

After the first days of reopening bars, restaurants, and their outdoor spaces, Sàmper has assessed that "most restaurateurs and customers are doing well". "We had detected some images of outdoor seating with more than 10 people, but they are a minority fact", said the Minister. There have been some sanctions, but nothing excessive". According to Sàmper, the devices of the Mossos d'Esquadra and the local police to control the compliance with the measures have had "an empathic and pedagogical function, in order to explain how things have to be done".

As for the possibility of easing restrictions quicker, he warned that "it will depend purely on medical criteria". "We will only do this if we are below 0.9 of the Rt [the indicator that calculates how many people are infected from each positive case] and hospital admissions are decreasing. For this to happen, we have to do things right", the minister concluded.

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