Spain extends lockdown till April 12

Madrid, March 26

Spain extended its coronavirus lockdown on Thursday to at least April 12 as Europe’s second-worst hit country fought “a real war” procuring medical supplies in an overheated Chinese market that officials said was rife with fraud and speculative deals.

Health Minister Salvador Illa cautiously told parliament the data “make us think we are starting a stabilisation phase”.

The number of coronavirus cases rose by 18 per cent to 56,188, a slower pace than in the past few days, but health emergency chief Fernando Simon said that the start of mass testing for the virus would certainly boost new notifications of infections. “We are in a real war to get hold of ventilators, facemasks and quick test kits,” government spokeswoman Maria Jesus Montero told Telecinco television.

Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, whose wife is infected with the virus, has said this is the country’s most difficult moment since its 1936-39 civil war.

“All the countries are fighting to secure domestic production, fighting to get supplies from China,” she said, adding that suppliers were failing to deliver on time. The government was also working to guarantee domestic production by converting some of the industry’s capacity.

While Spain’s death toll is still well below Italy’s 7,503, it has been rising at a faster pace lately, having soared 10-fold since Spain declared the state of emergency on March 14.

In Madrid, Spain’s worst affected region, hearses continued to arrive at the city’s ice rink, which was converted into a makeshift morgue after authorities said existing facilities lacked resources.

Nursing homes, whose elderly residents are highly vulnerable to the disease, have been particularly hard hit. — Reuters