Spain PM says to seek one-month extension of state of emergency

MADRID: Spain´s government will seek a fresh extension of its state of emergency that will last “about a month” until the transition out of lockdown is completed, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said on Saturday.

“It should be the last state of emergency (period) and will continue until the end of the rollback. For that reason.. instead of being a 15-day (extension) it will be for about a month,” he said in a televised address. If approved by parliament, it would mean the state of emergency, which is currently set to expire on May 24, would last until late June. The lockdown was first declared on March 14 to slow the spread of the virus in Spain, which has suffered one of the world´s most deadly outbreaks with 27,000 deaths and more than 230,000 cases. Renewed four times, the decree has seen the government impose some of the world´s tightest restrictions on Spain´s population of nearly 47 million, although it has since begun a staged rollback which is due to be completed by the end of June.