Spain announces lockdown as coronavirus cases up 6,000

OVIEDO, Spain

Spain said Saturday it will place the entire country under lockdown as the number of confirmed coronavirus cases crossed 6,000.

“The measures we’re taking are drastic… but we need to reduce, retain and stop the propagation of the virus,” said Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez.

Sanchez announced that starting immediately, people will not be allowed to leave their homes unless they are traveling to work, healthcare centers, acquiring essential goods like food or medicine or for other justifiable reasons.

All shops, excluding supermarkets, hairdressers, tobacco shops, dry cleaners and pharmacies, will be closed, as will all museums, festivals and restaurants.

State forces will patrol the streets to ensure the new rules are followed, he said.

Highways will also be blocked when necessary and hospitals will be reinforced as the country prepares to deal with an increasing number of cases.

Madrid is suffering the largest outbreak in the country. In the last 24 hours, the city’s death toll doubled to 133. Nationwide, there have been over 189 deaths.

The government announced a state of emergency on Friday.

“Everyone has to leave their differences behind. Here there are no ideologies, the important thing is to beat the virus and guarantee public health,” said Sanchez.

The current administration is Spain’s first coalition government and regional leaders from places like Catalonia stated their resistance to allowing centralized control.

Still, Sanchez announced that the regional government will be under the order of Spain’s central government when it comes to health, security and other services.

According to the World Health Organization, Europe is the new epicenter of the virus.

It took Italy one week to go from 1,000 to 5,000 confirmed cases. In Spain, it took just four days.