They extend the almost total confinement 15 more days to stop the virus in Spain

The President of the Spanish government, Pedro Sánchez, announced this Sunday that the state of alarm decreed in the face of the health crisis caused by the coronavirus will extend 15 days more than originally anticipated, with which quThe Spaniards will remain under almost total confinement until at least April 11.

“To beat the virus, it is essential to continue anticipating ourselves. It is a dramatic measure, uncomfortable and that is completely affecting everyone’s lives, but experts agree that it is an effective measure against the coronavirus,” Sánchez said, appearing in a videoconference after meeting. virtually with regional presidents.

The socialist leader explained that his government will approve next Tuesday the 15-day extension of the state of alarm, which will then have to be validated by the Spanish Parliament, where it hopes to find support from the opposition as a whole, something that is taken for granted as critics of its management press for tougher measures.

The first informed about the government decision were the regional presidents, who manage the public health system, with whom Sánchez held a videoconference to assess the progress of the Covid-19 pandemic, which It has already infected 28,572 people and caused 1,720 deaths in Spain.

Although Sánchez found political support from the regional leaders for the extension of the confinement, he also received complaints from the areas most affected by the disease, such as the Community of Madrid and Catalonia.

The Madrid president, the conservative Isabel Díaz Ayuso, He accused the central government of “blocking” the arrival of purchased medical supplies to China and insisted that the region, the main focus of the pandemic, still does not have all the necessary resources.

For his part, the Catalan president, the secessionist Quim Torra, insisted on tightening the confinement.

“We must act without waiting for the announced disaster,” Torra emphasized after the virtual meeting with Sánchez, who also asked to halt production that is not essential to combat the coronavirus, as Italy did.

Sánchez, however, defends that Spain’s measures are already tough enough and “are at the forefront” if you look at the rest of Europe and the world.

“We are proposing the confinement of a month, with the psychological effect that it will have for vulnerable people (…) they are extremely serious measures. The important thing is to comply with them,” stressed the socialist leader.

Apart from the extension of the state of alarm, the President of the Spanish government reported other new measures such as the Private nursing homes will come under the control of public health and that the Armed Forces will expand their activities to transfer tasks of patients or medical equipment.

He also explained that a temporary restriction (of 30 days) of all those non-essential trips from third countries begins, something that had been announced by the European Union for the states of the common space.

Another measure is that the central government will give the municipalities resources to distribute food and medicine to the elderly in their homes, so that they do not have to expose themselves to going out, according to Télam.

Likewise, Sánchez reiterated that Spain will be able to have a “self-sufficiency in medical supplies” thanks to the “complicity” of the national industry and recalled that currently everything necessary is being purchased on the world market despite the shortage of some products such as masks .

According to the last balance of the Spanish Ministry of Health, in the last 24 hours, 394 people died, another record in a single day, bringing the dead to 1,720, while 3,646 new infections were registered, a figure somewhat lower than the previous day, when almost 5,000 infected were added, and which places the total of infected at 28,572.

“There is a tendency to stabilize the number of new cases. This can give hope, but we must be very careful,” Fernando Simón, director of the Center for Coordination of Alerts and Emergencies, insisted today.

The expert predicted that Spain is “approaching” the period of doubling of the contagion curve, but even assuming that this point can be reached in the next week, it must be borne in mind that one or two weeks later it will be time to increased pressure on the Intensive Care Units (ICU).

In this sense, Simón admitted that there will be “stress” in many hospitals but that, with the resources deployed by the Executive, it is hoped to avoid the widespread collapse that other experts warn about.

The Spanish authorities are working against the clock to decongest hospitals that are at the limit of their possibilities, mainly in Madrid, and to avoid a similar situation in other areas, such as Barcelona.

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