In Spain, there is a growing number of places where you need to show your COVID-19 vaccination certificate or test negative for coronavirus before entering restaurants. In Portugal, a similar rule applies at weekends to all venues.
Spain – rules for entering the restaurant
There are more and more medics in Spain and Portugal calling for consumer selection. On Tuesday, Onda Cero radio reported that Spanish restaurant owners are increasingly trying to separate people with a COVID-19 passport from other customers. In many places, there is already a division into vaccinated, who can eat inside the restaurant, and others, for whom a place is provided only in the restaurant garden.
Madrid radio indicated that, especially in the northwestern region of Galicia, there are more and more ideas to separate customers from each other. It was recalled that in the city of Orense, some printing houses offer customers to save time when verifying a COVID-19 passport by offering them T-shirts with a document of this type printed on them. They have a personal QR code of the customer, on the basis of which they can enter the restaurant.
As the fifth wave of the pandemic in Spain escalates, numerous medical organizations are suggesting that restrictions be respected and that people who are unvaccinated or who do not have valid tests should not be allowed to enter their premises.
Admission to restaurants in Portugal
Also in neighboring Portugal, medical professionals and entrepreneurs in the catering sector are calling on the government to introduce customer selection. They also indicate that the current regulations are incorrect.
As the owner of the gastronomic company Adapt Miguel Monteiro said, the government’s obligation to present a vaccination certificate only at weekends is an ineffective and “not logical” action.
– The current legal situation shows that people who have undergone vaccinations can enter catering establishments on weekends. These documents are checked before entering. Meanwhile, on weekdays, no one requires such certificates, which means that the risk of contamination in restaurants, bars and cafes is high outside the weekend, Monteiro said.
The head of the Portuguese Medical Chamber, Miguel Guimaraes, is of a similar opinion, who called on the government to introduce an order to separate sectors inside catering establishments for people who are fully vaccinated, as well as for those who have not yet taken the COVID-19 preparation.
– Demanding test results from restaurant customers is pointless. Property owners should separate fully vaccinated persons from other clients. In addition, it should be ensured that all employees of catering establishments have certificates confirming full vaccination, concluded Guimaraes.
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