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The Spanish government has once again decided on a national emergency due to the increasing number of coronavirus infections. Throughout the country, except for the Canary Islands, there is a night curfew. The declaration of a state of alarm, the third highest level of emergency in the country, was agreed this Sunday at an extraordinary meeting of the Council of Ministers in Madrid, as announced by the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez.
“The situation we are going through is extreme,” said the politician after a special meeting of his cabinet. The health emergency is “the most effective tool to stop the contagion curve”.
“In the middle of the second wave”
The national emergency will initially apply for two weeks. An extension would have to be approved by the national parliament in accordance with the constitution. Sánchez said he hopes to extend the state of emergency until May 9 with the support of parliament. The declaration of the state of emergency had been requested by 10 of the 17 regions of Spain. “Europe and Spain are in the middle of the second wave,” said the head of the left-wing minority government.
In a state of emergency, the government can restrict the freedom of movement of people between the autonomous regions. Unlike the state of emergency that was imposed in Spain between March 14 and June 20 by Corona, this time there is no total curfew, but a night veto between 23:00 and 6:00 a.m. Depending on the location, these times may be slightly different in the regions.
One of the countries most affected by the pandemic in Western Europe
The arrangement applies to almost the entire country. The only exceptions are the Canary Islands, which were removed from the list of risk areas by Germany and Great Britain a few days ago.
Spain is one of the countries most affected by the pandemic in Western Europe. According to Johns Hopkins University, more than a million infected people have registered there and nearly 35,000 people have died from Covid-19. The number of new infections per 100,000 inhabitants in seven days is 191.11 with an upward trend. For comparison: in Germany, this value was 68.4 on Saturday, according to the Robert Koch Institute. RKI’s figures are estimated to be ten percent too low on a national average.
