Lockdown in Spain to be extended until 26 April

The current ‘state of alarm’ lockdown in Spain is to be extended until midnight on 25 April.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said in a televised statement on Saturday that ‘the cabinet on Tuesday will again ask for authorisation from parliament to extend for a second time the state of alarm until Saturday 25 April at midnight’.

Sánchez has also been making contact during Saturday with the leaders of Spain’s main opposition parties to seek their support for an extension to the current state of alarm. On Sunday, he will also make contact with Spain’s regional leaders, to also seek their support.

To formally extend the lockdown, Sánchez – who is leading a coalition government between his PSOE socialist party and the left-wing Podemos group – will need the official approval through a vote in the Spanish Congress.

The Spanish government will hold a special cabinet meeting on Tuesday to determine the precise details of the lockdown extension, with the vote in the Spanish Congress expected next Thursday 9 April.

‘More days under state of alarm will follow,’ said Sánchez on Saturday, ‘but they won’t be as long. We will begin to transition and get back to our old lives, socially and economically.’

Pablo Casado, leader of Spain’s right-wing People’s Party (PP) tweeted on Saturday that Sánchez had called him ‘to inform me that he will request Congress to extend the State of Alarm’. He added, ‘I have once again transmitted the support of the PP for the containment measures against Coronavirus.’

He recibido la llamada de Pedro Sánchez para informarme que solicitará al Congreso la prórroga del Estado de Alarma. Le he vuelto a transmitir el apoyo del Partido Popular para las medidas de contención contra el coronavirus. La lealtad y la unidad exigen eficacia y transparencia

— Pablo Casado Blanco (@pablocasado_) April 4, 2020

Inés Arrimadas, leader of the Ciudadanos (Cs) party, has also indicated that her party would support an extension of the state of alarm.

Official figures released by the Spanish Health Ministry on Saturday 4 April confirmed 124,736 known cases of Coronavirus (Covid-19), 7,026 more than yesterday.

Friday had seen an increase of 7,472 confirmed cases over Thursday – a rise of 6.7%, which had continued the downward trend of increased infections seen in the past few days in Spain. This downward trend of infections seems to be continuing with the figures announced on Saturday morning – and the lockdown in Spain appears to be working.

ALSO READ: Coronavirus in Spain full update (4 April)

The Spanish government initially declared a lockdown for two weeks commencing on 14 March, with measures that confined everyone to their homes apart from leaving to purchase food or medication, or to go to their place of work only if they could not perform their duties from home.

After the first week was completed, the measures were extended by the Spanish Congress until 12 April.

From Monday 30 March, further new measures ordered all non-essential workers in Spain to also remain at home until Thursday 9 April inclusive, thereby only returning to work after the Easter weekend (Friday 10 and Monday 13 April are holidays in most regions of Spain).

With the proposal for new extension of the state of alarm until 26 April, it has not yet been confirmed whether the non-essential workers in some sectors will be allowed to return to their places of work from 14-26 April. Details will be announced after the cabinet meeting on Tuesday.

Spain’s Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska had previously said that any further extension decision would be made on the advice of medical experts and ‘on a scientific basis’.

PP leader Casado had recently accused Pedro Sánchez leader of ‘improvising’ and that his handling of the Coronavirus crisis was an ‘explosive cocktail of arrogance, incompetence and lies’.

Santiago Abascal, leader of Spain’s far-right Vox party, has been repeatedly calling for Sánchez to resign, as well as his second deputy prime minister, Pablo Iglesias, the leader of the coalition’s left-wing Podemos party. On Saturday, Abascal tweeted that he had declined to accept the telephone call from Sánchez, listing 10 reasons for doing so.

Por primera vez he declinado la conversación telefónica con el señor Sánchez por las 10 razones que aquí se detallan y que hemos trasladado al Palacio de La Moncloa.
De este gobierno solo esperamos su dimisión pero que antes pague a todos los españoles a los que impide trabajar. pic.twitter.com/Hm2PK07C8a

— Santiago Abascal (@Santi_ABASCAL) April 4, 2020

Below are the numbers to call for each region of Spain for information and assistance in the event of possible cases of Coronavirus – as issued by the Spanish health authorities.

Click here for further information (in Spanish) regarding Coronavirus from the Spanish Health Ministry.