At a Press Conference on Tuesday 3rd November 2020 the Regional Health Minister Sira Repollés announced a further series of restrictions to be put in to place as he announced that the region was in the grip of a "third wave", citing more than 1,000 accumulated cases per 100,000 inhabitants in the past 14 days.
The formal declaration will be made either Wednesday 4th or Thursday 5th November. The measures that have been stipulated are the following:
-The mandated closure of ALL non essential trade/activity at 20:00. (This includes Hotels, Bars, Theatres, Cinemas & Hostelry) Food shopping is considered essential and can remain open but take away food services can still maintain current hours of business.
-Cessation of indoor sports and physical activities (gyms) and all activities in gambling, gaming and betting locations.
-Further to the three capitals perimeter confinement, the frontiers of the three territories of Aragón are also to be closed.
-Curfew from 11:00pm to 06:00am is maintained
There is a degree of confusion over the position of English academies in this impending new restriction cycle, as to whether the academies classify as regulated education or commercial activity. The sector will need to wait for the publication of the Official State Bulletin in the next 24 to 48 hours. That being said, the rhetoric coming from the regional heads is uncompromising.
"We must restrict going out of the home to the essential. We will have time to recover social activity later."
The move is described as a plan to restrict the activity of citizens, as much as possible to purely essential activity. “We must limit our contacts to the work environment and cohabitants," said Repollés. "We must restrict going out of the home to the essential. We will have time to recover social activity later. We need the help of all Aragonese to overcome this wave. We will not do anything without individual responsibility”.
Progression forecasts for the virus indicate what Repollés described as “a few days or even weeks of plateau with very high data and a very slow decline will come. A forecast that turns on all the alarms, because the health system is very compromised."
A total closure of non essential activity has not been ruled out and home confinement lockdown, along the lines of the previous State of Alarm, requires national government authority. That has been ruled out until current measures are assessed on November 9th. Castilla y León have announced the total closure of non essential business and activity for 14 days and we should expect to see the regions all start to extend their restrictive measures to the full extent of the power available to them under current State of Alarm legal powers as pressure will be applied to central government for a return to full lockdown.