Spain to extend coronavirus state of emergency for one month

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said Saturday he would request parliament to extend the nation’s lockdown for the coronavirus until the end of June.

The prime minister’s request follows Spain’s previous detailed plan announced in late April to reopen businesses in a series of four phases.

Sánchez said during an address that scientific research of infection rates in the country had backed his cautious response for imposing the prolonged pandemic restriction, adding, “Prudence should still be the rule,” The Financial Times reported.

Local administrators in Madrid were reportedly frustrated that the city’s restrictions could not be lifted as much as other regions of the country.

The People’s Party in Spain is one primary group that has criticized quarantine measures, arguing that the state of alert is no longer necessary for the country.

The prime minister dismissed any ideas of lifting restrictions to pursue “herd immunity” for the nation, adding that such policies could cost the country as many as 300,000 lives if it decided to let people freely move without social distancing measures or pandemic constraints.

“We’re still in a state of vulnerability,” Sánchez said. “It’s fundamental to maintain the state of emergency during the de-escalation. We need to continue to restrict mobility,” according to a Bloomberg report.

Sánchez said he would call on parliament to extend the country’s state of alert for one final time, limiting resident’s mobility until the end of June, at which point the government hopes to transition out of lockdown measures.

He also said that he is working to bring back power to local regions soon, adding that some areas less affected by the virus could be eligible to have measures lifted earlier.

The country reported 138 new deaths according to data collected on Friday. Spain also reported 643 new cases on the same day, according to Johns Hopkins University.