In Spain, Galicia bans smoking in busy streets

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3 min

From this Saturday, in the Spanish region of Galicia, smokers will have to refrain from smoking on public roads, on the terraces of cafes and restaurants, if the safety distance between people is not respected. This measure aims to limit the contagion of the coronavirus.

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With our correspondent in Madrid, François Musseau

In a country where people still smoke a lot, the measure affecting Galicia, a region in the north-west of the country, will surely be severely felt. It is forbidden from this weekend to smoke a cigarette there as soon as you find yourself in the open air, in the street, in the squares or on the terraces of cafes or restaurants. On the condition, however, that the smoker is within two meters of other people, in other words likely to transmit the coronavirus to him.

The authorities in Galicia say they are based on scientific data and also on the evidence that when you smoke you take off your mask, which is compulsory throughout the country. The Spanish Society of Epidemiology recommended at the end of July the ban on smoking outdoors because "  smokers who are infected and asymptomatic can emit droplets containing the virus and put the rest of the population at risk  ."

The measure was immediately very well received by half a dozen other regions, Castile-La Mancha, Castile-Leon, Andalusia, Asturias, in particular. So many regions that plan to put it in place soon. This is also the case for the region of Madrid, which has already recommended no longer to smoke on cafeterias or restaurants on the terrace and which has asked the central government to impose this restrictive measure across the whole of Spain.

Spain still plagued by coronavirus

This decision is in addition to the multiplication of other measures taken by the regions in the face of the rebound of Covid-19 in Spain, the strongest in Western Europe, with nearly 330,000 cases since the start of the epidemic.

Several regions have already instituted partial lockdowns and have restricted nighttime activities and meetings to less than ten people. The mask is compulsory throughout Spain, with the exception of the Canary Islands.

►Also read: Coronavirus: shock clip in Spain to enforce barrier gestures

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• Spain
• Coronavirus
• Health and medicine

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