The majority of Catalonia's forceful new Covid-19 measures will come into force at midnight on Thursday night, El Nacional can confirm.
The Catalan cabinet is still awaiting a Friday court decision on the validity of three specific measures in the package: those affecting universities and places of worship and limiting the size of gatherings. However, the rest of the new restrictions are to be published in Catalan government gazette and will take effect from midnight. Therefore, bars and restaurants will have to close without exception on Thursday night - and remain shut for the next two weeks.
The disputes chamber of the Catalan high court will respond tomorrow on whether the three contentious measures breach basic rights. These are the ban on gatherings of more than six people, the suspension of face-to-face activity in universities and the capacity limitation on religious activities. The rest of the measures will come into force without having to wait for the court ruling.
Bars and restaurants, in particular, have been waiting all day to see if the restriction will enter into force or not and it was not until 7pm that the government clarified and decided to press on and apply the majority of the measures without waiting for the remaining issues to be resolved - which will presumably take place tomorrow.
A day of uncertainty and chaos
Throughout the day there has been confusion on whether or not the measures would come into force. The court is only required to rule on points which could affect basic rights but the Catalan government sent the whole package of measures to the court awaiting an overall approval which it did not need. Measures that do not affect fundamental rights can be directly applied and enforced via government decree.
After the first announcement that the court had detected problems with the form of some elements, at midday, it seemed possible that the introduction of the measures would be postponed. Finally it was understood that the court endorsement was only required on three outstanding points. The new restrictions will thus be in force on Friday morning in Catalonia, closing bars and restaurants (except for takeaway services), and applying restrictions on mobility and capacity that affect shops, gyms, cinemas and some other leisure facilities.