Spain eases strict lockdown conditions almost two months
03 May, 2020
All Spaniards on Saturday were permitted to choose walks or play sport after 48 days of home confinement to combat the coronavirus in another of the worst-hit countries.
Spain's almost 47 million people have since March 14 lived under among the strictest virus lockdowns on the planet, with adults authorised to set off and then buy food, medicine or walk your dog.
The lockdown was prolonged late last month until May 9 but Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on Tuesday unveiled a plan to gradually commence easing the restrictions in four phases that needs to be completed by the end of June.
Within that, children under 14 were last week permitted to step outside for walks. And the restrictions were further eased on Saturday.
"I'm going out for the first time for a brief walk," said 87-year-old Amalia Garcia Manso as she wandered down Madrid's Calle Mayor, wearing a facemask and gloves and supported by a cane and the arm of her daughter.
"This hurts, it's hard for me personally to see that of Madrid is closed", she said, using one of the city's main shopping streets.
With over 215,000 cases and almost 25,000 deaths, Spain is probably the worst-hit countries on earth.
'A child on Christmas Eve'
Regardless of the easing of the lockdown, many restrictions remained. In towns greater than 5,000 inhabitants, children and older people cannot leave home at the same times.
Enough time slots of 10am to midday and 7pm until 8pm are reserved for individuals over 70 and the ones they need to accompany them.
From 6am to 10am and from 8pm to 11 pm, adolescents of over 14 and adults can leave to choose walks of less than one kilometre (about 50 % a mile)from their homes, but only two at a time from the same household.
Near Madrid's central Retiro Park, which remains closed, many residents were out jogging, some in groups.
A policeman used a loudhailer to urge persons to jog only on the sidewalks and not on the road.
Marcos Abeytua, a 42-year-old financial advisor who lives in the normally bustling district of Chueca, said he got up at 7am to go for a run, something he would not normally do on a Saturday morning as may likely still be dealing with a late Friday particular date.
"After so weeks in confinement, I badly wished to go out, run, start to see the world," he said. "Yesterday, I was such as a child on Christmas Eve."
Afternoons are reserved for children under 14, who can set off accompanied by a grown-up betweem midday and 7pm.
Source: www.thejakartapost.com
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