Spain has lifted a state of emergency in place since October last year to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, allowing Spaniards to travel between regions for the first time in months.
“It’s like New Year’s,” said 28-year-old Oriol Corbella in Barcelona, where the lifting of the curfew was met with shouts, applause and music.
“We’re getting a bit of normality back, of freedom, but we have to keep in mind that the virus is still around,” he added.
Photo: Reuters
Warning: Excessive consumption of alcohol can damage your health
“I was fed up with not being able to get out of Madrid,” jewelry designer Blaca Valls told reporters on Saturday, echoing the relief of many in the country over the easing of restrictions.
“I felt frustrated, locked down, with no freedom,” added the 46-year-old who planned to go to Galicia, in northwest Spain, next weekend to celebrate a birthday.
Argentina Enriquez, a 37-year-old Mexican student, said she was impatiently waiting to head to the countryside to enjoy barbecues with friends, play the guitar and go for walks.
“Just being together ... a lot of emotions,” she said.
Although the emergency measure, which expired at midnight on Saturday, would lead to more freedoms, it is a headache for the country’s 17 regional governments responsible for healthcare.
The state of emergency provided them with a legal framework to impose measures — such as nighttime curfews or a ban on non-essential travel between regions — that limited freedoms.
Except for a few days over Christmas when the restrictions were lifted, people have not been able to travel to other regions, go on holiday, or see family.
Discouraged by the surge in infections after Christmas, the authorities did not loosen internal travel restrictions during Easter week, normally a peak travel period in Spain.
However, what really angered Spaniards was that foreign tourists were able to pour into the country on holiday while they were banned from traveling to the beach or visiting loved ones.
While intra-regional travel bans have ended and curfews have been lifted, not all of the restrictions are being relaxed in Spain, one of Europe’s hardest-hit nations with nearly 79,000 deaths and 3.5 million infections.
Regions can still restrict opening hours and impose capacity limits in bars and restaurants.
Regional governments can also seek court approval for stricter measures such as reimposing curfews, capping the number allowed at home gatherings or extending a ban on internal travel.
However, the courts have offered different rulings, leading to a patchwork of measures.
A court in the eastern Valencia region approved a midnight-to-6am curfew, while the top court in the northern Basque Country said the area could not keep its nighttime curfew.
To avoid this scenario, several regions have lobbied Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s government to extend the emergency.
However, his administration has refused, saying that the measures could not remain in place indefinitely, pointing out that the infection rate was stable and that Spain’s vaccination program was progressing rapidly.
A new online voting system aimed at boosting turnout among the Philippines’ millions of overseas workers ahead of Monday’s mid-term elections has been marked by confusion and fears of disenfranchisement. Thousands of overseas Filipino workers have already cast their ballots in the race dominated by a bitter feud between President Ferdinand Marcos Jr and his impeached vice president, Sara Duterte. While official turnout figures are not yet publicly available, data from the Philippine Commission on Elections (COMELEC) showed that at least 134,000 of the 1.22 million registered overseas voters have signed up for the new online system, which opened on April 13. However,
EUROPEAN FUTURE? Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama says only he could secure EU membership, but challenges remain in dealing with corruption and a brain drain Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama seeks to win an unprecedented fourth term, pledging to finally take the country into the EU and turn it into a hot tourist destination with some help from the Trump family. The artist-turned-politician has been pitching Albania as a trendy coastal destination, which has helped to drive up tourism arrivals to a record 11 million last year. US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, also joined in the rush, pledging to invest US$1.4 billion to turn a largely deserted island into a luxurious getaway. Rama is expected to win another term after yesterday’s vote. The vote would
ALLIES: Calling Putin his ‘old friend,’ Xi said Beijing stood alongside Russia ‘in the face of the international counter-current of unilateralism and hegemonic bullying’ Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) yesterday was in Moscow for a state visit ahead of the Kremlin’s grand Victory Day celebrations, as Ukraine accused Russia’s army of launching air strikes just hours into a supposed truce. More than 20 foreign leaders were in Russia to attend a vast military parade today marking 80 years since the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II, taking place three years into Russia’s offensive in Ukraine. Putin ordered troops into Ukraine in February 2022 and has marshaled the memory of Soviet victory against Nazi Germany to justify his campaign and rally society behind the offensive,
CONFLICTING REPORTS: Beijing said it was ‘not familiar with the matter’ when asked if Chinese jets were used in the conflict, after Pakistan’s foreign minister said they were The Pakistan Army yesterday said it shot down 25 Indian drones, a day after the worst violence between the nuclear-armed rivals in two decades. Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif vowed to retaliate after India launched deadly missile strikes on Wednesday morning, escalating days of gunfire along their border. At least 45 deaths were reported from both sides following Wednesday’s violence, including children. Pakistan’s military said in a statement yesterday that it had “so far shot down 25 Israeli-made Harop drones” at multiple location across the country. “Last night, India showed another act of aggression by sending drones to multiple locations,” Pakistan military spokesman Ahmed
RSS