Spain declares emergency as coronavirus shuts down parades, schools, shops
14 March, 2020
Major Spanish regions shut shops, bars and restaurants, car plants ground to a halt and Easter parades were cancelled as Spain prepared to enter a 15-day state of emergency on Friday, in a sharp escalation of its fight against the coronavirus.
Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said the amount of cases could top 10 10,000 by next week - a lot more than double the existing level - and asked citizens to play their part.
"Heroism is also washing the hands and staying home," Sanchez said in a televised address to the country on Friday.
Spain gets the second-highest number of coronavirus cases in Europe after Italy. The existing Spanish tally stands at 4,231, up about 1,000 cases from Thursday. About 120 people have died.
Sanchez did not explain what emergency powers he would use, or what help shut-down businesses would get. The order allows the government to confine people, ration supplies and requisition factories and buildings, aside from private homes.
But, in an indicator of brewing tensions between regions and his administration, some regional leaders called on the central government to supply more support.
The regional government of Catalonia said it wanted and was ready to confine the complete region due to the epidemic and asked the central authorities to block its access by air, rail and water, regional leader Quim Torra said.
The goal is to restrict passenger entry in to the region from coronavirus-risk zones in the rest of Spain and Europe, however the proposed measure wouldn't normally block important freight road traffic from Spain to France, a Catalan government spokesman added.
Although advised never to, people would be permitted to move within Catalonia - Spain's second-wealthiest region of over 7 million - except in those towns already on lockdown, he added.
In the first large-scale action of its kind in Spain, Catalan authorities on Thursday locked down four towns north of Barcelona, while on Friday they ordered the closure of gyms, nightclubs and shopping malls, apart from kinds selling food.
Madrid's regional leader Isabel Diaz Ayuso said she didn't have the power to place the capital on lockdown and that such a decision would need to come from the central government.
Her government in Spain's richest region said that starting at nighttime (2300 GMT) and until at least March 26, bars, restaurants and shops, aside from food shops, petrol stations and others selling essential items, will be closed to the public.
Bars and restaurants would still be in a position to provide home delivery services or have food found at the premises.
'Disaster'
Your choice was met with dismay and confusion by some workers in Madrid, home to half of Spain's coronavirus cases, that was unusually quiet on Friday, with shops, streets and cafes largely deserted.
"It is a disaster for employers and workers," 39-year old Mustafa Elkeneski, a waiter in a cafe in the heart of the city.
"We have no idea how it will workout. The problem of pay is up in the air."
Authorities in Andalusia recommended the closure of "all leisure and commercial establishments".
The spot of Murcia in the southeast announced a 14-day lockdown of seven coastal tourist towns in a move that local media said would affect some 376,000 people.
The restrictions have also reached deep into Spanish culture. The country's bishops' association, the Spanish Episcopal Conference, issued guidelines on the spread of coronavirus where it said "processions of the time have to be cancelled", suggesting Spain's famous Easter parades will not go ahead.
Some Holy Week processions had recently been cancelled by local church authorities. Due to start out in early April this season, the events usually draw crowds of believers and tourists.
Supply problems due to the outbreak prompted some Spanish plants of the Renault-Nissan alliance and Volkswagen's Spanish division Seat to announce momentary stoppages on Friday that could last for days or weeks.
Source: www.thejakartapost.com