Spanish sports venues are edging closer to a return to full capacity after the Government approved a raise in the limits today (Monday).
An extraordinary plenary session of the Interterritorial Council of Spain’s National Health System (CISNS) has approved the raising of limits for sports competitions in LaLiga, the top two divisions of club football, and Liga ACB, basketball’s top tier, along with other major sporting events.
Capacity for events at outdoor venues will rise from 75% to 85%, while indoor arenas have seen their capacity limits increase from 50% to 75%. However, the CISNS has stated that mask wearing should remain at sports events, despite the wider recommendation being set to be phased out in Spain that masks should be worn outdoors.
The current restrictions for sports venues were introduced at the turn of the year amid concern over the Omicron variant of COVID-19. Outdoor events had previously been able to go ahead without restrictions, while the previous indoor limit was 80%.
Stadiums in Spain had been operating at full capacity since September, following a CISNS ruling. At the beginning of September, it was announced that Spanish stadiums would be able to increase capacity to 60% after COVID-19 vaccination across the population reached the milestone of 70%.
Outdoor venues, such as LaLiga football stadiums, were able to go up to 60% during September from the 40% limit that was introduced at the start of August. Indoor venues increased to 40% from the previous limit of 30%. In both indoor and outdoor arenas, operators had to guarantee a minimum interpersonal distance of 1.5m.
Image: Miguelazo84/CC BY-SA 4.0/Edited for size
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