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Spain Becomes Latest Epicenter of Coronavirus After a Faltering Response
The government declared a state of emergency Friday, days after it allowed mass gatherings in the capital and cases jumped to 4,200.
The Sagrada Familia basilica in Barcelona shut its doors to visitors on Friday.
Just last weekend, about 120,000 people marched through downtown Madrid to celebrate International Women’s Day. Some 60,000 soccer fans filled one of the city’s largest stadiums. And 9,000 supporters of Vox, Spain’s third-largest party, gathered inside a former bullring.
Now Spain has the second-highest number of coronavirus infections of any European country, after Italy — overtaking the larger nations of France and Germany — and faces the fastest spreading contagion on the Continent.
Between last weekend and Friday, the number of cases in the country shot from several hundred to 4,200, with 120 deaths, and the prime minister warned that the number of cases could reach 10,000 by next week. That would give Spain one of the fastest rates of coronavirus contagion in the world.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/13/world/europe/spain-coronavirus-emergency.html
http://archive.is/r6vDW
Spain Considers Nationwide Lockdown to Fight Coronavirus
A day after an emergency is declared, government officials debate whether to follow Italy’s lead in restricting everyone’s movements.
The Spanish government met in an all-day session on Saturday to decide on strict measures to contain the rapid spread of the coronavirus, a day after the country declared a state of emergency because of an alarming rise in infections.
Regional officials had already declared on Friday a lockdown of one region, Catalonia, telling all residents to stay at home. The cabinet could decide to extend similar measures nationwide on Saturday, which would make Spain the second country in Europe to do so after Italy.
The authorities in the capital, Madrid, on Friday ordered all hotels, restaurants and bars to close, restrictions that could also be extended to the entire country on Saturday.
“We’re the new Italy,” said Francisco Gutierrez, a 33-year-old street cleaner for the city of Madrid. “We don’t know how long it’s going to last, and we don’t know how much Spain will suffer from this yet.”
Pedro Sánchez, Spain’s prime minister, warned on Friday that the number of coronavirus cases in Spain could reach 10,000 next week given how sharply infections have been rising.
Health authorities reported a surge of 1,500 new infections on Saturday, the largest daily increase reported in Spain since the beginning of the outbreak, suggesting that the country is following a curve similar to that seen earlier in Italy. The death toll in Spain rose to 136 on Saturday.
Madrid is normally one of Europe’s most bustling cities, with people filling its public parks and squares, or meeting for drinks and tapas in its thousands of bars and cafes. Yet on Saturday, it resembled a ghost city, as the capital’s 3.5 million residents, who normally spend much of their social life on the streets, started to follow the advice of the authorities to stay at home.
Those who ventured outside often headed for the supermarkets to buy essential supplies. All other stores, restaurants and bars had already been ordered shut starting Saturday. Museums and other public venues had closed earlier this week. Madrid’s central park, the Retiro, remained open, but it was almost empty.
With the Madrid region now the epicenter of Spain’s coronavirus crisis, accounting for more than half of the 5,700 cases reported nationwide by Saturday, the city has abruptly followed the example of Milan and other Italian cities that were recently put under lockdown to contain the spread of coronavirus.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/14/world/europe/spain-coronavirus.html
http://archive.is/IDdPZ