Spain’s President looks to extend lockdown to April 26 to combat Covid-19

SPAIN’S President Pedro Sanchez is contemplating whether or not to extend the country’s lockdown until April 26 to combat Covid-19 (coronavirus).  He will decide tomorrow whether to push for an extension through parliament.

The toughened measures follow soaring deaths and increasing numbers of new Covid-19 cases in the country. With the total number of people diagnosed with the disease soaring to 117,710, Spain has overtaken Italy to become the second country in the world with the most coronavirus cases, after the US. Spain also registered 932 deaths in the last 24 hours, and with the death toll now hovering around 10,935, it is the second country in the world with the most coronavirus-related deaths, after Italy.

“Unfortunately we’ve overtaken other countries, like Italy, in the number of cases, but the trend is showing us that we are achieving the objective,” said Fernando Simón, Director of the Centre for Coordination of Health Alerts and Emergencies at the Ministry of Health, this afternoon. However, Simón also added: “We are taking a huge risk if we don’t continue to restrict movement.”

The World Health Organisation’s (WHO) Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, has also warned countries against relaxing lockdown restrictions too quickly. Relaxing confinement measures too soon, can not only “provoke healthcare systems to recollapse,” but it can also “worsen the economic impact” from Covid-19,” he stated.

Sanchez is certainly giving the matter some serious thought and is expected to confirm his final decision on whether to extend the deadline to April 26 tomorrow. The government is also reported to be considering whether to make face masks compulsory for the whole of the Spanish population in a bid to combat the deadly disease, as reported.

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Pepi Sappal

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