Gibraltar looks to post-Covid era as vaccine drive nears completion | Gibraltar | The Guardian
▻http://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/mar/26/gibraltar-looks-to-post-covid-era-as-vaccine-drive-nears-completion
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Gibraltar looks to post-Covid era as vaccine drive nears completion. British overseas territory is positioning itself as real-time case study in relaxing restrictions
This month Gibraltar’s health minister snapped a photo from her first dinner out in months, showing two glasses of red wine sitting prominently on the table and a face mask cast off in the background. “Operation freedom begins,” tweeted Samantha Sacramento alongside the photo.
Operation Freedom, the name given to Gibraltar’s vaccination programme, is now closing in on its target: in the coming days the British overseas territory will become one of the first places in the world where every willing resident over the age of 16 has been fully vaccinated.“It’s pretty much mission accomplished,” said Sacramento. “It does feel much better, much easier and as if we’re getting back to normal.”More than 90% of Gibraltar’s 33,000 residents have now had two doses of the vaccine. Save for the 3% or so who declined the jab, the rest are expected to receive their second dose in the coming days, igniting hopes that the territory can turn the page on a pandemic that has killed 94 residents and infected more than 4,200.
The vaccine drive has also stretched into neighbouring Spain, where doses have been offered to the more than 10,000 workers who cross into Gibraltar regularly. Hints of a post-Covid era have started to sprout across the territory; bars and restaurants are open until 2am, the curfew has been eliminated and mask-wearing mandates are soon to be eased to cover enclosed public spaces and public transport. The number of cases in the territory has dwindled to 15, and the hospital has zero Covid-19 patients.
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