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Introduces travel bans for residents of ten cities
Of: Anna Sjögren, Nivette Dawod
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The Spanish government has imposed a state of emergency in Madrid and nine neighboring cities.
This in the hope of curbing the growing spread of the infection in one of the European regions most affected by the crown.
Now 7,000 police officers will be deployed to check that residents do not leave the cities.
The state of emergency was declared at lunchtime on Friday and applies to Madrid and nine nearby cities, which have more than 500 cases per 100,000 inhabitants.
– We have decided to declare a state of emergency for the next fifteen days. We believe that we will be able to stabilize the pandemic and lower the curve, said the Spanish Minister of Health, Salvador Illa, during a press conference.
The declared emergency means that residents in the affected areas are now banned from traveling to other parts of the country.
According to Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska, more than 7,000 police officers will be deployed along the roads outside the capital, at bus stations, trains and airports to check that the travel ban is being complied with.
It has led to political struggles
However, residents will not be given a general curfew in cities.
The spread of the infection in the Madrid region is more than double that of the rest of Spain and accounts for a third of the country’s corona cases and roughly the same proportion of deaths. Alarm reports arrive from hospitals that 80 patients are going to the doctor.
Photo: JONAS EKSTRÖMER / TT
7,000 police officers will be deployed to ensure that residents do not leave the cities.
Now, high infection rates have led to a political conflict between the left-wing national government and the right-wing Madrid region.
The government is not satisfied with the handling of the pandemic in the region and is now realizing its threat to intervene if stricter restrictions are not imposed.
In the last week, 63 people have died from covid-19 in the Madrid region. Currently 3,361 people are hospitalized and 498 people are fighting for their lives in intensive care units. We can sit on our hands or we can stop the virus, says Salvador Illa, Minister of Health.
He can not travel
The region’s right-wing government, for its part, believes that the existing restrictions are sufficient. Recently, new restrictions were decided for 51 areas where infection rates are higher than 750 per 100,000 inhabitants.
Photo: Andrea Comas / TT NEWS AGENCY
The spread of the infection in the Madrid region is more than double that in the rest of Spain.
The right-wing Popular Party has described the government’s emergency as “an attack on all Madrilenians.”
– The Community of Madrid has a plan for the coronavirus and that plan works, says Enrique Escudero, politically responsible for health problems in the region.
Yesterday, a court overturned an order from the Spanish government for a partial closure of Madrid. But due to the emergency that has now been introduced, however, a partial closure will take place and residents of the 10 cities will not be able to travel during the weekend, when the country’s national day falls.
Spain is one of the countries most affected in Europe by the corona pandemic. To date, more than 848,000 have been confirmed infected with COVID-19 and more than 32,500 have died.
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