Another 728 people have died in Spain after testing positive for coronavirus , marking the third consecutive day the death toll has dropped in the country.
A total of 362, 800 confirmed cases of the virus have been recorded in the world’s second-worst hit country, which is an increase of 6, 15 since yesterday. The death toll now stands at 12, 632, with today being the first time daily deaths have fallen below 800 in the past week.
On Saturday, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said he would extend the country’s lockdown by another days until April , in a bid to give the health system time to recover.
In a televised address to the nation, Mr Sanchez said the lockdown measures were starting to show positive results by ‘saving lives’ but he warned the latest extension would not be the last.
He said the country is now ‘close to passing the peak of infections’ after the number of people who died between Friday and Saturday was – the lowest for a week.
Mr Sanchez said: ‘We are starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel.’
‘We are at the start of the decrease in the epidemic,’ he added. ‘We are stronger than we think but we have to endure with sacrifice, resistance and the spirit of victory’.
The prime minister added that ’we are not going to extend the standstill of economic activity’ but said shops, bars and restaurants will remain closed.
Mr Sanchez acknowledged ‘these are the most difficult days of our lives’ but added that some economic restrictions would be lifted after easter.
The prime minister assured that once the country got the number of new cases under control, he would steer the country towards getting back to a ‘new normal’ to rebuild the economy.
He added that new hygiene, detection and tracing measures will be implemented to continue to combat the spread of the virus.
Ministers have started to cautiously consider when they can start to reactivate an economy that has been shut down and put hundreds of thousands out of work.
The PM also called in his fellow European states to unite in a bid to fight the economic burdens of the pandemic, as he hinted of the country facing a recession.
He said: ‘It is clear that the Spanish economy will have to go into debt and we will have to take resources from future generations to tackle the pandemic’.
Spain has the second most amount of infections in the world, after the US with 312, 362 and and deaths so far.
Italy, which was recently the epicentre of the pandemic, has moved down to third place with , (confirmed cases and) , 632 lives lost.
The country reported its lowest daily rise in deaths for nearly two weeks yesterday and said the number of patients in intensive care had also fallen for the first time.
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