Spain has been in the corona virus news again lately, so we thought it was time for another health update from Valencia.
Valencia is fully open for tourism, there have been no major outbreaks in the city, and almost all hotels, beaches, bars, restaurants, attractions are up and running, albeit with important extra hygiene measures in place.
At a national level in Spain the number of COVID cases are on the increase, but this is largely driven by outbreaks in other parts of the country, hundreds of miles from Valencia, and the Spanish government says they are under control.
In Valencia, it is mandatory to wear a face mask in public and generally people are respecting this rule. This applies to almost everywhere, with the exception of beaches, or bars and restaurants while consuming food and drink (but you should still wear your face mask when ordering, when not eating or drinking, or when visiting the toilet).
Nightclubs have also been open with limited capacities, but there is some discussion at the moment whether they should be closed, after a number of small outbreaks were detected among staff and club-goers. A decision about this is expected from the Valencian authorities early next week.
The number of new cases per 100,000 of population remains much lower in Valencia than the rest of Spain, and lower than many parts of Europe including regions of England, Germany, Portugal, the Netherlands and Sweden.*
We recommend you check travel advice from your own government, travel agency and/or airline before planning a trip to Valencia.
* It is difficult to find directly comparable statistics about the current rate of infection for different regions in Europe, but the latest Spanish government figures show the 14-day cumulative number of COVID-19 cases per 100,000 in the Valencia region is 26.84 compared with 57.46 for Spain as a whole, or 145.75 for Catalonia, where Barcelona is located. The latest figures from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control show that the equivalent for Portugal as a whole is 29.1 and 30.7 for Sweden as a whole. Figures from the German government show an equivalent of 133 new cases per 100,000 populations in just 7 days for the Dingolfing-Landau Landkreis region and figures from the UK government showed a 14 day rate of at least 24 and rising for the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England, last week. Snapshots of cases are not the only measure and the overall trend is important too. In Valencia and Spain there is no doubt cases are increasing at the moment but we think it is too early to judge whether this is any worse then the general trend in other parts of Europe.