MADRID, December 23 (Reuters) – The Catalonia region in northeastern Spain secured court approval for a nighttime curfew on Thursday as Madrid pledged to distribute millions of kits of additional tests to fight against the Omicron variant which increases infections and eclipses Christmas.

Spain lifted most restrictions over the summer thanks to a high vaccination rate that suppressed the infection, but the arrival of Omicron sent daily cases soaring to a record high of over 72 900 Thursday.

The concentration of coronavirus detected in wastewater reached its highest level since the start of a surveillance program in June 2020, the environment ministry said.

Taking the hardest line since Spain emerged from a state of emergency in May, Catalonia, which surrounds the city of Barcelona, ​​will ban residents from leaving their homes between 1am and 6am from Thursday evening, while other regions took a less strict approach.

Southern Murcia has asked non-essential businesses to close at 1 a.m., dramatically curtailing the celebrations in a country where bars and restaurants regularly stay open until the early hours of the morning.

“The idea is to try to limit, during the Christmas period, social interactions where the mask is not used,” said regional leader Fernando Lopez Miras, explaining the measure, that the north of Aragon was also considering.

The administration of Lopez Miras has also banned dancing in nightclubs and limited the size of dinners to 10 people inside and 12 on the terraces.

The Madrid region, whose right-wing regional chief has prioritized the hotel sector throughout the pandemic, has focused on better testing and pledged to distribute 12 million rapid tests this Christmas.

A meeting of regional chiefs convened by Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on Wednesday failed to result in broad agreement on measures beyond a mandate to wear masks outside, which met with a mixed reception from the Spanish. Read more

Madrid resident Maria Ortiz told Reuters she would not follow the rules.

“I go to a restaurant and they have someone sit next to me and I can take my mask off but on the street I have to wear it? I don’t agree.”

Health Minister Carolina Darias stressed that there was no cause for alarm.

“We are not in the same situation as last Christmas and the turning point is the high immunization coverage.”

The infection rate measured over 14 days reached 911.31 per 100,000 people, surpassing the peak of 900 at the end of January, although hospitals are at about a quarter of the level seen then.

Reporting by Inti Landauro, Emma Pinedo, Nathan Allen, Michael Gore and Jesús Aguado; Editing by Nick Macfie and Jonathan Oatis

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