The number of people allowed on Palma's beaches could be chopped by almost half to guarantee social distancing, according to a Palma City Council Resolution published in the Official Gazette of the Balearic Islands, or BOIB on Thursday.

Based on the current regulations there must be a minimum distance of 1.5 metres between people at the beach, although that does not apply to groups of people who live together.

Using the surface area of a towel to calculate capacity, 7 square meters has been allocated per person to "better guarantee an interpersonal distance of 1.5 metres,” according to the BOIB resolution.

That would reduce maximum capacity by a considerable amount.

Palma City Council has appealed to sunbathers and swimmers to be responsible and so far, there have been no instances of uncontrollable crowds and access controls have not been required at the city's beaches to limit capacity.