The Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, has announced that the Government will ask Congress to extend the State of Emergency for another month.
“We are going to request that instead of being a 15 day extension, it will be for one month,” he explained.
Prime Minister Sánchez explained that there will also be an Institutional de-escalation during the final one month extension of the State of Emergency and that Health Minister, Salvador Illa, will be in sole command.
"The special powers granted to other Ministries will decline," he said.
He also stressed that "the rate of coronavirus infection in Spain is 0.24 percent, more than 100-times less than when the State of Emergency was decreed," and he attributed the decline to the Government’s confinement measures.
"The State of Emergency works and prudence is the only way to overcome the virus," he said.
The Seroprevalence study has shown that the virus affected territories very differently, that one in 20 Spaniards has been infected, with or without symptoms; and that lethality was 1%.
"If we had not applied the confinement measures, 30 million people could have been infected and more than 300,000 lives could have been lost,” claimed Sánchez.
He appealed to the residents of Spain to keep following safety and hygiene measures to avoid infection, saying ”prudence must be the rule.”
"If we choose to prioritise business over health, we will end up spoiling health and business."
Prime Minister Sánchez acknowledged the importance of focusing on Tourism but said firm measures must be in place to reduce the risk of infection.