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(AFP): Spain has declared a six-month state of emergency and imposed a nationwide night-time curfew in a bid to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus.
Spain’s Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, said his cabinet had approved a state of emergency on Sunday morning that is set to remain in force until 9 May 2021.
“The state of emergency is a legal tool for extreme situations, and we are in an extreme situation,” Pedro Sanchez said. The decree will allow Spain’s regional governments to order an overnight curfew to run from 11pm to 6am, or to begin and finish an hour earlier or later.
The only area of Spain exempt from the curfew is the Canary islands because of what Sánchez termed “the very positive epidemiological situation there”. The new measures announced include a limit on public and private gatherings of different households to a maximum of six people.
He further said that restrictions on movement between districts would be determined by regional leaders and was likely to be dependent on work and medical needs.
According to the Spanish constitution, a state of emergency can only last 15 days before it could be extended by the Spanish Parliament. Yet, Sanchez said the Spanish government will seek a six-month extension that will last until May.
Unlike most countries, Spain’s Health Ministry does not update coronavirus data on weekends. Yet, over Saturday and Sunday several regions, including Catalonia, reported record daily jumps in new infections.
Spain became the first western European country to record more than 1m Covid infections last week. In this regard, Spanish Prime Minister said that studies suggested the real number was three times higher.