[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunwoo Lee] Spain's death toll from the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has surpassed 20,000, prompting consideration of extending the state of emergency for 15 days.
According to foreign media including AFP on the 18th (local time), the Spanish Ministry of Health announced that the COVID-19 death toll reached 20,043 as of that day. Spain became the third country after the United States and Italy to exceed 20,000 COVID-19 deaths. However, the daily increase in deaths in Spain has generally declined since peaking at 950 on the 2nd. The cumulative confirmed COVID-19 cases in Spain were counted at 191,726 on the same day, an increase of 3,658 in one day.
With the death toll surpassing 20,000, the Spanish government is reportedly planning to extend the state of emergency. According to The Guardian, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez announced that he plans to request the parliament to extend the state of emergency, including movement restrictions, for 15 days until May 9. Prime Minister Sanchez expressed a desire to ease lockdown measures for children and mentioned that limited allowances might be permitted after the 27th, though he did not specify details.
Earlier, on the 30th of last month, the Spanish government completely suspended all non-essential economic activities for 14 days to curb the spread of COVID-19. After judging that the spread had peaked, restrictions on some sectors such as construction and manufacturing, where remote work is not possible, were lifted starting from the 13th. However, the state of emergency and the nationwide movement restrictions will continue until the 25th of this month.
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