Spain’s President Pedro Sanchez on Friday declared a “state of emergency” across Spain after the country’s total confirmed cases rose to 4,209 and the death toll, 120.
La Sexta television reports that the so-called “state of alert” is the first of three stages of a state of emergency.
It lasts 15 days and would allow the government to take wide-ranging measures including confining people or ordering evacuations.
The COVID-19 outbreak was first reported in the city of Wuhan, central China’s Hubei Province, in December 2019. Experts have attributed the outbreak to a novel coronavirus that has since spread across China and abroad with confirmed cases exceeding 125,000 globally.
Like other countries across the globe, Spain has taken some drastic measure in efforts to curb the spread of the virus, including the suspension of sporting events.
