Madrid Region Bans Households From Late Night Gathering

The Madrid region's government said Friday it would ban households from gathering indoors from midnight until 6 am as part of new restrictions to fight a rise in coronavirus infections

Madrid, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 23rd Oct, 2020 ) :The Madrid region's government said Friday it would ban households from gathering indoors from midnight until 6 am as part of new restrictions to fight a rise in coronavirus infections.

The measures will limit capacity inside restaurants and bars to 50 percent and they will have to close at midnight, said the Madrid region's top health official, Enrique Ruiz Escudero.

"The news measures drastically reduce social activity, especially at hight," he told a news conference.

Cinemas and gyms will be required to reduce their capacity to 50 percent and university residences must close at midnight.

Gatherings between 6 am and midnight will remain limited to groups of six people.

The measures will come into effect on Saturday when a two-week partial lockdown imposed on Madrid, which is also the Spanish capital, and several surrounding cities by the central government ends.

The regional government of Madrid announced the new measures a day after a meeting between the central government and regional health authorities failed to reach a consensus on the need for nighttime curfews.

Prime minister Pedro Sanchez was set to make a statement on the results of this meeting at 1100 GMT (1300 local time) Friday, according to his office.

Two other regions, Castilla and Leon and Valencia, said they would move to impose a nighttime curfew on their own, while the southern region of Andalucia said it would do so in the city of Granada.

Spain earlier this week became the first European Union nation to record a million coronavirus infections.