Capacity and timetable measures may be reactivated if the health situation worsens. Indoor masks are still obligatory.
On Tuesday 22 March, the Canary Islands Council of Government held a meeting in the Regional Parliament. Ángel Víctor Torres, the President of the Canary Islands, announced that he would approve tomorrow, Thursday, 24 March, the suspension of all pandemic restrictions to stop the spread of the coronavirus archipelago.
Ángel Víctor Torres said that the suspension would be “by technical criteria.” The President stressed that this development does not mean the end of the pandemic, “we will remain vigilant.”
For this reason, the decision to be adopted on Thursday will be a “temporary suspension” of the general and regional measures, which, if the circumstances worsen, could be reactivated, explained the President of the Canary Islands.
There is no doubt that this suspension of the regulations will lead the Canary Islands to a new normality. Ángel Víctor Torres said, “we will continue to focus, as we did in 2021, on improving public health data in the islands”.
“Vaccination has been modulating its impact on the health of the population and on the health system itself,” said the head of the government. 84% of the population is immunized. In the Canary Islands, “contrary to the incredulity of some, vaccination has been rapid, orderly, and effective,” he said. He described the public’s response to the immunization process as “excellent.”
What restrictions are to be lifted?
General seating capacity: 100%, both indoors and outdoors.
Cultural activity: the maximum capacity, whether or not it is considered a mass event, will be 100% in both open and closed spaces.
Public shows: cultural, recreational, leisure and entertainment activities, including sports, which take place sporadically and in places other than establishments intended for the usual exercise of such action shall have a maximum capacity of 100% both outdoors and indoors, and regardless of whether the public remains standing or seated, as well as the consumption of food.
Federated and non-federated, professional and non-professional sporting activity: outdoor and indoor sporting activity is permitted, maintaining an interpersonal distance of 2 meters. The specific regulations for each sport limit the number of participants.
Training sessions, competitions, and sporting events: the capacity of the public will be 100% in both open and enclosed spaces and the measures provided for in the Agreement of the Interterritorial Council of the National Health System of 16 February 2022 on steps for mass sporting events, including those of the Professional Football League and ACB League, will be applied.
Children’s and youth camps: The capacity shall be 100% for both outdoor and indoor activities.
Camping sites, shelters, non-social hostels, and camps with an overnight stay.
Dancing, festivals, open-air dances, and popular events will return to the Canary Islands after the end of the restrictions.
And this will be a decisive year for the improvement of health infrastructures, said the President of the Canary Islands, who has committed that from next summer three new multi-purpose buildings will be available in the annexes of the Candelaria hospital in Tenerife, the Juan Carlos I hospital in Gran Canaria, and the Molina Orosa hospital in Lanzarote, as well as the complete refurbishment of several hospitalization floors in the HUC.
