Valencia clarifies that the Covid Passport will not be requested on terraces of bars

The vice president of the Valencia region, Mónica Oltra, clarified this Thursday that the obligation to present the Covid Passport will not be extended terraces of bars, only to access the open spaces of wedding rooms or similar venues.

The DOGV has published this Thursday the resolution of the Ministry of Health, which will come into force at 00:00 this Friday, and which extends the mandatory nature of the Covid Passport to all hospitality establishments, regardless of their capacity.

The new regulation, as it has been published, contemplates “expanding the spaces of demand for the presentation of the vaccination certificate to closed and open places where food or drink services are provided, by business company (catering, self-service … .) or by a hotel and restaurant company that provides this type of service”.

Asked about whether or not the Covid Passport is compulsory on the terraces, Oltra initially explained that “a question was asked to the TSJCV in case it was necessary at some point to apply this measure”, for having the endorsement of the high court “and not going every time to the TSJCV, out of respect for the institution”.

“A broader consultation was made in case it was necessary to extend the request for the covid certificate also to the terraces. Nothing is ruled out and everything is contemplated, it was done out of prudence, in case this decision had to be made before the Three Kings day”, she explained.

During the press conference, the publication of the text in the DOGV in the aforementioned terms was known, and when asked again by Oltra himself, she indicated: “I think this is more related to places of events, for example a wedding hall that has an attached terrace.”

Oltra has subsequently admitted that perhaps the wording of that point may give rise to confusion, and has stressed that “in principle it was not intended for the terraces of an ordinary bar, those that are located on the sidewalks”, and that perhaps “it should make a correction “, because” the spirit of the rule is that it applies to event rooms, not bars”.

In this same sense, she has indicated that no further restrictions have been planned but that the interdepartmental table could meet at any time, depending on the evolution of the pandemic, infections and saturation of hospitals.