Corona hits Madrid and Barcelona .. new restrictions on public attendance in Spain

On Wednesday, the Spanish authorities imposed stricter restrictions on public attendance in sports stadiums, after the highly contagious Omicron mutant caused a rise in the number of cases of Corona virus, affecting many football clubs, most notably Real Madrid and Barcelona.

Health Minister Carolina Darias said at a press conference that outdoor stadiums, which previously did not have spectator limits, can now use up to 75 percent of their total capacity.

She added that indoor spaces could use 50 percent of their capacity instead of 80 percent, and the wearing of face masks would be mandatory.

The decision of the local authorities comes after the Spanish league giants Real Madrid and Barcelona announced on Wednesday that more players had tested positive for the virus, in a week in which Spain recorded a record number of daily cases of “Covid-19”.

On Wednesday, Real announced new infections in its ranks belonging to Belgian goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois, Uruguayan midfielders Federico Valverde, French Eduardo Camavinga and Brazilian winger Vinicius Junior with the Corona virus.

Since mid-December, eight other players in the royal team have tested positive for the virus, including Croatian Luka Modric, Welshman Gareth Bale and Austrian David Alaba.

In turn, Barcelona reported that Frenchman Othman Dembele, fellow defender Samuel Umtiti and midfielder Gavi joined the list of injured, after Jordi Alba, Brazilian Dani Alves and Frenchman Clement Langlet had tested positive for the virus earlier this week.

Real Sociedad also suffers from a large number of positive cases in its ranks, which have so far reached 10 players, similar to Cadiz and Real Mallorca, whose number of injured reached five and four, respectively.

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