El Salvador’s president, Nayib Bukele, extended the state of emergency on Saturday night for another month to deal with the new coronavirus, after the Legislative Assembly had declined on Thursday to extend it.
“The President of the Republic through an executive decree decrees a state of emergency,” the legal secretary of the government house, Conan Castro, together with the council of ministers, declared at a press conference.
The state of emergency, approved on April 30 by the Legislative Assembly, expired this Saturday night, so, under the protection of an article of the Civil Protection Law, the government extends it from zero hours on Sunday and valid for one month.
The extension of the state of emergency, according to Castro, is to maintain “the guarantee of the fundamental rights of health and life of the population” when the country is “days away from collapse” due to the increase in cases of coronavirus.
The decree empowers the government to use funds from executive institutions to cope with the pandemic, keep classes in schools and universities suspended, and pay for water, electricity and telephone services.
By virtue of the decree, “job stability” is maintained within the framework of the household quarantine that the country has lived since March 21.
In addition, it authorizes the authorities to request international aid to alleviate the needs of the population and combat the pandemic.
The national emergency also empowers health authorities to “limit or restrict” the movement of people who are suspected of carrying the virus.
According to a last official balance, El Salvador registered until this Saturday 1,265 cases of contagion of the new coronavirus, with 26 people dead.
cmm / dga
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