Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez is introducing a state of emergency in the country starting tonight. His goal is for the state of emergency to be in effect for six months.
The new state of emergency means a nationwide curfew between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m. The country's regions will be able to adjust the curfew hours, but not lift it altogether. Gatherings of more than six people will also be prohibited.
The state of emergency also gives regional management extensive rights to restrict travel in and out of their region if it is deemed justified for infection control reasons.
The new rules will apply for the next two weeks. The goal is to reduce the spread of the infection from almost 400 to 25 cases per 100,000 inhabitants over a 14-day period. To achieve this, Pedro Sanchez wants the help of parliament to be able to extend the state of emergency for up to six months.
”"We are living in an extreme situation. It is the most serious in the last 50 years," Sanchez said in a televised speech after a government meeting where the corona crisis was discussed.
According to the daily newspaper El País, it is very likely that the government will receive parliamentary support, after both the liberal Ciudadanos and Basque and Catalan parties have promised to vote for the proposal.
But for the government, it is very important to also include the right-wing Partido Popular, the largest opposition party, in the plans. This is because the Partido Popular governs in five different regions, including Madrid, where politicians have previously opposed further lockdowns.
It is the second state of emergency declared in the country this year. Spain introduced some of the toughest restrictions to curb the coronavirus in the spring, but eased them in the summer – something the government today describes as a mistake.
Like many other countries, Spain has been hit by a second wave of COVID-19 in recent weeks. Earlier this week, the country became the first in Europe and sixth in the world to pass one million confirmed cases of COVID-19.
So far, nearly 35,000 Covid-related deaths have been reported from the country, which has a population of nearly 47 million.
Source: TT
