Spain declares state of emergency due to coronavirus

The Prime Minister of Spain Pedro sánchez said Friday that the country will be subjected to a state of emergency for 15 days, which may allow its government to restrict the movement of citizens, food products and to take other measures to combat the spread of the novel coronavirus.

The decision was made, when the number of cases in Spain has increased to about 4200, the most in Europe after more than 17 600 in Italy. The number of deaths in Spain reached 120 on Friday.

In Europe the number of infections rose to 35,000 on Friday, almost twice more than three days ago. The number of cases in France rose by 800 to more than 3600. Germany increased in performance by about 3,100 people.

Earlier Friday, Spain made its first mandatory lock in four cities in Catalonia with a population of about 70,000 people.

In his short televised address, Mr. Sanchez said that the state of emergency will come into force on Saturday, after the Ministerial meeting and that it intended to use “all the resources of the state to protect the citizens, especially those most vulnerable to the virus“.

Mr. Sanchez said that Spain and other European countries “only in the first stage of the fight against the virus“. He warned that in the coming weeks Spain could reach 10 000 cases.

But Mr. Sanchez did not specify what measures would be taken in an emergency situation. “It will be 2 weeks, maybe more,“he said. “It will be very hard and difficult, but we will defeat the virus“. The government has closed museums and sports centers, and students around the country have been sent home from school this week.