After France, it is Spain’s turn to announce new restrictive measures to fight the second wave of the Covid-19 epidemic. Spain thus goes into a state of health emergency and a curfew has been imposed on the entire territory with the exception of the Canary Islands.
Spain placed in a state of health emergency
While last Wednesday, Spain passed the stage of one million cases of Covid-19 (thus becoming the sixth country in the world to reach this figure), Pedro Sanchez announced this Sunday, October 25, the establishment of the state of health emergency throughout Spain. The only exception: the Canary Islands. The day before the announcement, several Spanish regions had asked the central government to go on alert, the decision was implemented with immediate effect. As a reminder, certain geographical areas such as Madrid, the east of Valencia or the south of Granada, were already subject to local restrictions.
During his speech, the Spanish Socialist Prime Minister recalled that the Constitution provides for a state of health emergency for an initial period of fifteen days. However, he clarified that he planned ” to extend it until the beginning of May “. Since the state of health emergency allows local authorities to take further restrictive measures, Pedro Sanchez said restrictions on movement between regions should be determined by regional leaders based on the medical needs of each district.
A nighttime curfew
In addition to the state of health emergency, the President of the Spanish government announced the establishment of a night curfew. Like the state of health emergency, this measure concerns the entire territory with the exception of the Canary Islands. The curfew is from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. but may vary from region to region. In fact, Pedro Sanchez announced that the Autonomous Communities can advance or delay the start and / or the end of the curfew by one hour depending on local data. For the moment, Catalonia and Madrid have already announced that they will change their curfew times. The curfew is therefore held from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. for Catalonia and begins at midnight in Madrid.
Beyond the curfew, the Spaniards are also invited not to meet with more than six people from different households for the duration of the state of alert.
