The Bars and Restaurants of the Region of Murcia Will Close this Saturday 7th November
The hospitality sector of the Region of Murcia is again affected by the rise of the coronavirus pandemic. The bars, cafes, and restaurants of the 45 municipalities will close from tomorrow, and only takeaway and home delivery services will be allowed. In this way, any service inside or on the terraces of premises is prohibited in the face of the increase in cases of covid-19 recorded in recent weeks throughout the community.
This is the latest measure, which will last at least 14 days since Saturday, agreed by the regional government at the Covid-19 Monitoring Committee meeting this morning. The Region is the latest addition to the measure also imposed in recent weeks in Castilla y León, Catalonia, Navarra, Asturias, and in the autonomous city of Melilla.
Maintaining the curfew and the limitation of playground use in different locations with a more restrictive schedule were also approved. The spokesman of the Covid Monitoring Committee in the Region, Jaime Pérez, is expected to appear at 13.00h. to give more details on this new restriction.
The order is expected to be published in the Official Gazette of the Region of Murcia (BORM) today and will enter into force on Saturday.
Thus, the regional hospitality sector becomes one of the most affected in this second wave of COVID-19, just as it was during the harshest months of the pandemic, between March and June. It is estimated that more than 1,000 bars and restaurants in the Murcia Region have already closed their doors for good. Hostemur estimates that between 12% and 15% of these establishments have disappeared because of restrictions put in place during the health crisis.
Cartagena’s hotel employer, Hostecar, lamented the decision to close the hotel and signified that it would be “the ultimate blow” after eight months of very low takings. This measure adopted on Wednesday morning by the Covid-19 Monitoring Committee is rejected by the hoteliers, who claim “It will mean the closure of between 50 and 70% of businesses.”
They also noted that putting restrictive measures on the hospitality sector causes more dangerous activities such as botelleos or private parties where there is a far more increased risk of contagion.