BACKLASH IN SPAIN OVER ‘EMERGENCY’
THE Spanish government is facing a backlash over plans to put the country, one of Europe’s worst Covid hotspots, under a state of emergency for six months.
Opposition parties said that was too long, epidemiologists claimed the move may be too little too late, and some citizens balked at nightly curfews.
‘The curfew doesn’t make much sense. Does the virus only infect people between 2300 and 0600? No,’ said Marta Aragoneses, a 36-year-old schoolteacher, enjoying the outdoors in Madrid’s historic La Latina neighbourhood.
The country’s total number of cases soared by more than 50,000 over the weekend to reach 1,098,320 as of yesterday, while the death toll is 35,031.
Disagreements between the minority central government, regional authorities and the opposition have for months hampered the response to the pandemic in Spain, and the curfew and state of emergency came after much political wrangling. This has in turn angered many Spaniards, with analysts saying that the uncertainty could eventually hurt willingness to comply with the measures.
The government said on Sunday it would seek parliament’s approval for the state of emergency, which provides the legal framework to take measures and gives each region the right to decide its own policy, to last six months.
The nationwide curfew is set to last until at least November. 9. Spain took harsher measures with the first wave of the pandemic from March to June, including a lockdown that obliged people to stay home during the day.