Spain stretches virus emergency further

Spain’s parliament has endorsed a government request to extend by two more weeks the current state of emergency that allows it to enact confinement rules amid the coronavirus outbreak.

Spain has been under lockdown since March 14. The Congress of Deputies voted Thursday in favor of extending it until April 26. It is the second two-week extension.

Strict rules that keep people at home except for shopping for food and medicine and the shutting down of all non-essential industry have helped Spain reduce its daily rate of contagion growth from more than 20% two weeks ago to around 4 percent.

With 152,446 infections and 15,238 fatalities, Spain is alongside the United States and Italy as the hardest-hit countries by the virus pandemic.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez told lawmakers he didn’t expect the crisis to end soon.

“I’m sure that in two weeks’ time I’ll have to extend the state of emergency again,” he said.-AP