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Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has announced a new state of emergency in an effort to curb the rise in coronavirus infections, imposing local nighttime curfews and banning travel between regions in certain cases.
The measures will take effect from tonight and will require all regions, except the Canary Islands, to impose a night curfew and limit the number of people authorized to meet to six.
“We live in an extreme situation … it is the most serious health crisis of the last century,” Sánchez said at a press conference after a cabinet meeting.
Spain imposed one of the toughest roadblocks early in the pandemic and then eased the brakes over the summer.
But like many other European countries, it has experienced a second wave in recent weeks and now has one of the highest numbers of infections in Western Europe.
The total number of cases rose to 1,046,132 on Friday, while the death toll approached 35,000.
The state of emergency will need parliamentary approval to last more than 15 days. Sánchez asked the parliament to approve his extension until May 9.
A growing number of regions had been asking the government to implement the measure.
Catalonia was one of the first regions to use the new legislation to impose a curfew, which will take effect at 10 p.m. Establishments open to the public must close at 9:00 p.m.
The Community of Madrid had already limited the number of people who could meet inside the houses to six, in addition to prohibiting the mixing of different homes during the night.
A curfew had already been established in several cities in Spain to stop the spread of Covid-19.
The decree will serve as a legal framework to implement a new level alert system, similar to those already applied in countries such as Ireland, Germany and France.
Colombia becomes the eighth country to exceed one million cases of Covid-19
Colombia surpassed the benchmark of one million cases of Covid-19 registered in the country since the start of the pandemic, announced the Ministry of Health.
In the last 24 hours, 8,769 new infections were registered, bringing the total to 1,007,711 since the first case was detected on March 6, the ministry said.
Deaths rose to 30,000 after authorities added 198 deaths in the past ten days.
With 50 million inhabitants, Colombia is the eighth country to exceed one million infections, after the United States, India, Brazil, Russia, Argentina, Spain and France.
At an event in Chinchina, Caldas, President Iván Duque highlighted that Colombia has a relatively low per capita mortality rate among Latin American countries.
“We did much better than other countries. But I am not saying this to make us proud, I am saying it because we must protect ourselves better,” said the conservative.
According to the National Institute of Health, Colombia ranks tenth in the region with an average of 561 deaths per million inhabitants: almost half that of Peru (1,016) and about a quarter less than Brazil (719).
Colombia was subjected to a national blockade on March 25, then relaxed restrictions to prop up its collapsing economy.
Since September 1, the country has relied on individual responsibility and the widespread use of masks in public places.
Duque says that he has allocated resources of “about 11% of GDP”, some 26,000 million euros, to face the crisis.
Nonetheless, unemployment in cities rose to an all-time high of 19.6% in August.
With 308,645 infections, the Colombian capital Bogotá represents a third of the country’s cases and is the city most affected by the virus.
However, in recent weeks the number of patients with Covid-19 has skyrocketed in the department of Antioquia, with intensive care units at full capacity.
Victoria Delays Removal of Melbourne Hospitality Restrictions
Meanwhile, in Australia, the country’s Covid-19 hotspot, the state of Victoria, has delayed the long-awaited removal of strict closure restrictions for cafes, restaurants and pubs in the capital Melbourne due to an outbreak in the northern suburbs.
The restrictions have kept most retail businesses in Melbourne providing online services since the beginning of August alone and five million people living with stay-at-home orders were waiting for an announcement.
State Prime Minister Daniel Andrews said an outbreak in Melbourne’s northern suburbs would likely delay the reopening of retail and hotel businesses by a few days, as officials preferred to wait for hundreds of test results.
He planned to announce that some restrictions would be lifted starting mid-week. “If I could be here today and make these announcements, I would,” Andrews said.
“There are 1,000 more swabs in the lab and we don’t have the results yet. Once we get those results, we will be in a better position, we will have a clearer picture, so we can make announcements.”
In the previous 24 hours, the state found six new cases related to the outbreak in the northern suburbs that has spread to 11 homes, up from six on Tuesday.
Officials wanted to know if all known infections and positive cases expected from the tests were linked, Andrews said.
“We will get them today and tomorrow and hopefully we will be able to make, not just announcements, but also make big strides for sure in the middle of this week.”
There were seven new Covid-19 cases in the state, extending the downward trend from the 14-day moving average of new cases to 4.6.
Andrews had previously said that the key metric had to be below five for the next band of restrictions to be lifted.
With 817 deaths, Victoria accounts for more than 90% of all lives lost to the coronavirus in Australia this year. The country has recorded nearly 27,500 infections, a fraction of those in some other countries.
Pence’s top advisor tests positive for Covid-19
U.S. Vice President Mike Pence’s chief of staff has tested positive for Covid-19, a spokesperson said, the latest in a list of figures related to the Donald Trump administration to do so.
Marc Short began the quarantine and was assisting in the contract tracking process, Pence spokesman Devin O’Malley said in a statement.
“Vice President Pence and Ms. Pence tested negative for Covid-19 today and remain in good health,” he added.
Pence, who has been campaigning ahead of the Nov.3 election, will maintain his current schedule in consultation with White House doctors, the spokesman said.
An increase in Covid-19 cases led the United States to hit a record number of daily infections for the second day in a row yesterday, with nearly 89,000 new cases.
A list of people connected to the White House contracted the virus, including President Trump, who was hospitalized before recovering.
Trump has downplayed the severity of the virus and called for businesses to reopen so the economy recovers.
Joe Biden, his Democratic opponent in upcoming polls, has repeatedly criticized Trump’s handling of the health crisis.
The virus has claimed more than 224,000 American lives.
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