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Spaniards have been sunbathing and exercising outdoors for the second day since the coronavirus blockade was eased as the number of daily deaths in the country increased by the lowest amount in six weeks.
New deaths from coronavirus in Spain increased by 164 to 25,264 today, according to data from the Ministry of Health, marking the lowest one-day increase since March 18.
Confirmed cases of the virus rose to 217,466 on Sunday from 216,582 on Saturday, the ministry said.
Millions of Spaniards took to the streets and promenades of the country to play sports for the first time in almost seven weeks in a further reduction of their coronavirus blockade that started on Saturday.
Churches are to reopen tomorrow with confessions of seeing the priest and parishioner remain as far apart as possible while wearing face masks and gloves.
If baptisms are performed, the baby will not be anointed with water but with a disposable cotton bud. Marriages are unlikely to resume until June.
Today, the number of 24-hour deaths in Spain reached one of the lowest levels since mid-March, with a total number of positive cases of 833 and the number of patients cured is 118,902, an increase of 1,654.
Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, who is holding a video conference with the leaders of all the autonomous regions in Spain, reported on the considerable decrease in the death count to explain the measures being taken to ease the blockade imposed on 14 of March.
Mounted police patrolling horses as people exercise on a seafront in Barcelona, Spain on Sunday the second day of Spain’s strict relief.
A woman exercising in a Barcelona park on Sunday. The Spanish have filled the streets of the country to exercise after seven weeks of confinement in their homes.
One of the main changes will be to allow up to ten people to mix for the first time.
The government says they don’t have to be members of the same family for neighbors and friends to get together in their homes or gardens on social occasions. They can also share the same vehicle if they feel separated.
As of Monday, the Ministry of Health says that all who use public transport must also wear a mask and 14.7 million will be distributed in transport centers.
It will be the first time in almost two months that group meetings will be allowed and marks the beginning of what the Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, describes as the path to the “new normal”.
It is added to the new freedom rules for adults, children and retirees who can now go for a walk, exercise or play at different times of the day.
Children under the age of 14 with a parent were allowed to go out the previous weekend.
Worshipers who return to churches throughout Spain when they reopen, whether on May 4 or 11, will have to sit on separate benches and will be recommended to wear masks, without hymnals or choir.
Only the vicar, organist, and solo singer may participate in services, and churches should reduce their capacity by a third. In later stages, capacity will increase to 50 percent.
Spain is now operating a system of slots for people to go outdoors and do sports or walk.
Adults who want to do individual sports like running and biking should leave between 6 a.m. and 10 a.m. or 8 p.m. at 11 p.m.
People exercising on a seafront in Barcelona, Spain on Sunday. People were running, walking or cycling under a bright sunny sky in Barcelona, where many flocked to the seafront.
People over 70 who want to take a walk should do so between 10 a.m. and noon or 7 p.m. at 8 p.m.
And children under the age of 14 with a parent, who were allowed to go out for an hour between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m. in the first week, they can go outside, but only from noon to 7 p.m.
Adults under the age of 70 who want to stroll have also been told to follow the same hours as sports enthusiasts, but they must stay less than a kilometer from their homes and walk for an hour at most.
Those who do sports can move within their municipality for as long as they wish within their assigned hours.
The latest single-day death figures will increase the chances that most of Spain will move to phase one of the four-phase coronavirus recovery plan by the Spanish government on May 11.
Some Canary Islands and Formentera in the Balearic Islands pass from preparatory phase zero to phase one tomorrow (MON).
Hotels are reopened on the islands, although hoteliers there and in other parts of Spain hoping to reopen on May 11 say they intend to remain closed because there are no tourists.
A man with a protective mask crossing a street while going for a walk in Valencia today on the second day of the Spanish virus outbreak.
A woman covered in plastic film who was walking in Granada yesterday when all Spaniards were once again allowed to leave their homes.
The first phase also foresees the partial reopening of restaurant and cafe terraces and meetings of up to 10 people, provided that social distancing occurs.
Travel between provinces and islands in Spain has been prohibited until at least June 22.
The beaches will reopen fully on June 8 at the earliest, although in some areas surfers and windsurfers were able to return to the water yesterday as part of the government’s decision to allow people to practice individual sports.
Group meetings will be allowed from the beginning of phase one, which will enter most of Spain from May 11.
The Canary Islands of El Hierro, La Gomera and La Graciosa will jump directly to this phase on May 4 due to their low incidence of coronaviruses and no deaths, along with Forementera in the Balearic Islands.
During social gatherings, the ten or fewer people will have to practice social distancing and follow strict hygiene rules such as hand washing.
Vulnerable groups such as people with immunosuppressed diseases, pregnant women or diabetics will be excluded from these meetings.
A couple, wearing face shields, in Madrid when people go jogging and walking after outdoor exercise, allowed themselves for the first time in 48 days after a strict lockdown.
The Spanish government also bowed to criticism and will allow the terraces of bars and restaurants to open in this first phase with 50 per capacity, not 30 percent as before. The interior spaces can be used at a later stage, again with reduced capacity and screens.
In an important speech last night, Mr. Sánchez said: ‘We have stopped the epidemic. We have limited the spread of the virus in record time. And now comes a stage in which we will gradually regain spaces of mobility and social activity, of social relationship while keeping the virus at bay. ‘
“We are winning the battle against the epidemic, but at a very high cost in lives and sacrifices. The virus is not gone. The virus is still there, on the prowl, and consequently we have to be prepared to be able to react, and logically, to be able to govern this transition towards that new normality.
The doors of the church will also remain open indefinitely so that members of the congregation do not have to touch the handles or knobs and are at risk of contracting coronavirus.
Confessions will continue, but both priest and parishioner should be as far apart as possible and should wear masks and gloves. There will be no water in the fountains and when people arrive and leave, they should wash their hands with gel.
A woman inside an empty church of Santa Teresa and Santa Isabel in Madrid last month. Worshipers who return to churches throughout Spain when they reopen will have to sit on separate benches and will be recommended to wear masks, without hymnals or choir.
A woman walking with her granddaughter in a recently reopened park next to the Sagrada Familia church in Barcelona on Friday
Members of the same family will be able to sit together but not strangers and must occupy alternate rows of banks and the collection basket will not be passed. Instead, designated helpers, who also wear masks and gloves, will hold plates at the door. Everything in the church, from benches to religious artifacts, will have to be disinfected daily.
Baptisms, confirmations and marriages will have to wait until the end of June if possible, but if the baptisms continue, the baby will not be anointed with water but with a disposable cotton bud.
In case of weddings, only the best man, bride and groom can touch the rings and during funerals, mourners will be asked not to comfort each other with hugs.
The church is also asking people considered high risk “to stay in their homes and through television and radio to follow the Holy Mass and other acts of Christian piety.”
Pastors and church committees will be responsible for enforcing the rules. Under no circumstances will the entry of tourists be allowed.
The new rules have been published by the ecclesiastical authority in Spain and come into force throughout the country on May 11.
The Executive Commission of the Spanish Episcopal Conference said: ‘We want to gradually recover the normality of ecclesial life. We are happy and thank God that the disease is being controlled and that, even with reservations and precautions, the recovery of normal activities of our common life can begin. ”
The question of when the air and land borders will reopen, and whether foreign tourists can return to Spain, remains unanswered.
