Millions of children in Spain under the age of 14 are enjoying their first taste of freedom in 42 days as the country relaxes their confinement rules and adults are likely to follow from May 2nd.
Police are today trying to control the new rules which allow youngsters to go out and play for one hour provided they are accompanied by a parent or allocated guardian.
There is already confusion as some locations in Spain are said to have ‘opened their beaches’ but technically, only children who live less than one kilometre away can visit and they must not sunbathe or swim or have a picnic.
Brothers Pau, four, Jan, seven, and Leo, nine, sit near the beach, where access is prohibited by the police, in Barcelona, Spain, Sunday, April 26, 2020
The authorities say police won’t be taking a heavy-handed approach but will be ‘timing’ some people who will be warned to go home if they exceed the one hour limit.
The new rules for children allow them to ride a bicycle or scooters or carry a ball but they can’t play with other children outside their family group and can’t go to playgrounds.
They can only go out from 9am to 9pm, for one hour, with a parent or guardian, with no more than three children in total. They can only venture one kilometre from their house and are being advised to wear masks, though this is not compulsory.
The new rules for children allow them to ride a bicycle or scooters or carry a ball but they can’t play with other children outside their family group
A mother is seen walking with her daughters under 14 as Spain eases lockdown rules for children on April 26, 2020 in Madrid, Spain
A mother and her child walk past the Guggenheim Museum, in Bilbao, Spain, April 26, 2020
Early indications suggest the rules are already being breached and families are making unauthorised trips to beaches further away from their homes. Police do have the power to enforce fines if necessary.
Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has announced that from May 2nd, adults will also be able to go out for walks and to practise individual sport ‘as long as the favourable evolution of the pandemic’ allowed it.
The de-escalation plan will be presented on Tuesday once approved by the Council of Ministers.
Happy scenes as children chase Muscovy ducks in a park in Seville on April 26, 2020
A girl wearing a helmet and a face mask rides her bicycle in Madrid, Spain, 26 April 2020
A girl wearing a face masks jumps at a street in Cordoba, Spain, 26 April 2020
Families wearing face masks walk in Madrid, Spain, Spain, Sunday, April 26, 2020
Spain’s State of Emergency has just been extended from April 26th to midnight on May 10th but Mr. Sanchez has set May 2nd as the beginning of the end of the lockdown.
He stressed the de-escalation will be gradual in all aspects of life, all activities will be recovered in stages and with changes depending on the steps that are taken.
It will, said the Prime Minister, be asymmetric: ‘It will depend on the territory in which one lives, since the incidence has been disparate. It has to be coordinated, with the same rules for everyone. We enter together and we will leave together as a country, as a team, even if at different speeds.’
Families walk in the sunshine along a boulevard in Barcelona, Spain, Sunday, April 26, 2020
A little boy wearing a protective face mask walks through a park in Valladolid, Spain, 26 April 2020, on the first day minors are allowed to go out for an hour a day since lockdown
A father is seen walking with his son under the age of 14 as Spain eases lockdown rules for children on April 26, 2020 in Madrid, Spain
And he added: ‘It is important that the scorecard is coordinated by the Government of Spain to strengthen the capacities of the national health system in order to strengthen health surveillance and the detection of new outbreaks.’
The Prime Minister said that ‘this second stage of transition is as fraught with risks and dangers as the first. We do not have an infallible manual.’