Canary Islands Gov will ask the Supreme Court to make the Covid certificate mandatory

Published on December 17, 2021
Canary IslandsNews from Canary Islands
canary islands covid certificate mandatory

Yesterday was announced that the islands of Tenerife and Gran Canaria will move to alert level 3 from Saturday due to a high increase in the number of new cases, while La Palma will move to level 2.

As a consequence of this situation, the Executive has today entrusted the Minister of Health to request the Superior Court of Justice of the Canary Islands (TSJC) to support the mandatory use of the COVID certificate for access to certain leisure or commercial establishments, a measure that is already in place in other Spanish communities.

During the last two days, the Canary Islands reported the highest number of new cases since the start of the pandemic, with Tenerife being the island where most of these new cases were announced. 

The Deputy Minister of the Presidency, Antonio Olivera, explained that the Executive trusts that the TSJC will support their initiative to make the COVID certificate mandatory.

Until now, the requirement for a certificate in nightlife establishments or restaurants was only voluntary and allowed the application of measures of a lower level than that of the island in question. Now, it will be required as a mandatory measure and the details will be presented by the Ministry of Health to the TSJC.

Olivera remarked that this is a measure already applied throughout Europe, the world, including in other regions of Spain.

Reminder about Level 3 measures in the Canary Islands

Olivera recalled that going to level 3 means that the maximum number of people per group is set at 6 (as opposed to 8 at level 2), the closing time for establishments will be 2:00 and the maximum capacity is 50% outdoors and 33% indoors. In the case of hotels and restaurants, the quotas will be 75% outside and 40% inside. In addition, the postponement of large events is advised and, in such a case, they will be limited to a thousand people.

Public transport at 100% capacity in Level 3

The measures, however, include an exception for urban and interurban public transport because, as Olivera remarked, "scientific evidence shows that they are not generating many infections." For this reason, they will remain at 100%, as occurs in levels 1 and 2, given their great use during the festive season.

The vice councilor regretted that precisely today the absolute record of infections in the archipelago was registered, with 1,482 cases. 

Olivera draws attention to the situation in Tenerife, which today adds 1000 new cases, the highest figure recorded in the entire pandemic for an island.

The Omicron variant is present especially in Tenerife, where the authorities detected 65 cases of Omicron out of the 78 total cases in the archipelago.

The increase in infections is not due to imported cases or tourism

The Government emphasizes that the group with the least vaccination is that of those under 12 years of age and that the new cases are registered, above all, in the group of people with ages between 20 and 29 years old, which is also the one with the lowest vaccination rates.

The Executive clarifies, therefore, that these increases are not due to imported cases or tourism, and trusts that the vaccination of children from 5 to 12 will help to reverse the situation.

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