Spanish PM To Extend Lockdown As New Cases Ease

The Associated Press reports:

Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez is appearing before Spain’s parliament on Wednesday to receive its endorsement for a fourth two-week extension to a state of emergency that he declared on March 14 when Spain’s decentralized health care system had lost control of the COVID-19 outbreak. The lockdown has succeeded in reducing the contagion rate from over 20% at the height of the crisis to under 1%.

“We have won a partial victory against the virus thanks to the sacrifice of all,” Sánchez said. “No one gets everything right in such an unprecedented situation but lifting the state of emergency now would be a complete error.” Sánchez says that the state of emergency must stay in place to ensure that the country makes a coordinated and cautious return to a “new normalcy,” but he is poised to lose some key support from opposition parties.