High Court approves extension of Covid Passport to be reviewed at end of February

VALENCIA’S highest court has approved the regional government’s proposal to extend the requirement of the covid passport in certain establishments until the end of February.

On Friday the TSJCV (Tribunal Superior de la Justicia de la Comunitat Valenciana) agreed with the government’s request to maintain the requirement of the covid passport in bars and restaurants as well as other venues such as cinemas, gyms, nightclubs and health centres until 28 February, saying that it was “appropriate, necessary and proportionate.”

In a statement, the court said: “it is justified due to the evolution of the Omicron variant and the uncontrolled, sustained and rapid increase in community transmission of the SARS-CoV-2 virus which exceeds the capacity of the health system.”

The magistrates also made clear that the measure does not affect outdoor areas of these establishments, like terraces.

“Worth it”, says Puig

While on a visit to Castellón on Friday, regional president, Ximo Puig explained that towards the end of February his government would revisit the question of the Covid passport and whether it needed to be extended further, especially given that March will see the celebrations of Las Fallas in Valencia and La Magdalena in Castellón.

The comments were made during questions from journalists, with Puig adding that “simply by the fact that the vaccination certificate has encouraged 120,000 people to get themselves vaccinated, it’s worth it.”

He continued: “Nobody wants to take restrictive measures just for the sake of it, on the contrary, we would like to return to normality as quickly as possible, but while we are in a pandemic we must be aware that the Generalitat’s strategy involves prevention and co-responsibility and, on the other hand, vaccination, which we are going to speed up and which in Castellón is more accelerated than in other territories.”

While a large group of the population support the measure, there are others, many of whom take to social media to express their anger, who believe the restrictions are unnecessary and an infringement on freedoms and civil liberties.