Alarm bells are ringing in Spain over the sixth coronavirus wave, which has seen a record-breaking number of new cases. In a bid to curb the surge, the Spanish government announced that face masks would once again be mandatory in outdoor spaces. It has also promised to strengthen the contact tracking system and ramp up vaccination. But health experts say these measures do not go far enough, and are calling for stricter tools to reduce transmission.
Catalonia has announced tougher restrictions: a return to a nighttime curfew, the closure of nighttime venues and limits on capacity in restaurants and cultural spaces. While in the southeastern region of Murcia, all non-essential activity must shut down between 1am and 6am starting on December 24 and extending until January 14.
In the meantime, the spike in cases is putting Spain’s healthcare system under greater pressure. Primary healthcare centers are overwhelmed, and contact tracers say they do not have the time and resources to manage the growing workload.
In other, better news, an experimental treatment developed by a public hospital in Barcelona has seen 18 cancer patients go into complete remission.
We hope you enjoy this selection of articles from the EL PAÍS English Edition.
Thanks for reading and happy holidays!
MELISSA KITSON
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