MADRID – Under pressure from the wave of faster-developing coronavirus infections in Europe, the Spanish government paved the way for more localized closures on Tuesday and deployed the military in the country’s hesitant attempts to insinuate infections.
With more than 400,000 cases shown since the start of the epidemic and dozens of new daily groups just days before the start of the school year, Spain is trying to stop the uncontrolled transmission of the virus. At least 28,872 other people in the country have died from COVID-19 since February, the figure does not come with many other people who died without getting tested for the virus.
Government President Pedro Sanchez said Tuesday after the first cabinet assembly after the summer break that the contagion rate in Spain “worries” but “far from the mid-March scenario” when his government imposed a state of emergency and the national closure.
“There is no concern that will paralyze us and prevent us from acting,” the socialist leader said in a televised statement. “What is needed is a more powerful reaction to the threat.”
Sanchez presented 2,000 contact-trained soldiers in the country’s 17 regions, whom experts recognized as one of the weakest problems in the country after the first wave of the pandemic.
It also pledged to demand regional emergency orders if the virus continues to spread, which in theory helps the regional government factor new home maintenance orders, limit mobility, or limit other activities.
In Spain’s highly decentralized system, the regions resumed control of the central government pandemic in mid-June, at the end of the three-month blockade. But some judges have opposed regional measures to limit entertainment in the middle of the night, smoke outdoors or impose localized containment orders.
Regional officials, in turn, complained that they had their hands tied because the central government can legally claim a state of emergency.
The Prime Minister’s offer to do so when the regions request it has been criticized through opposition parties, which have accused Sanchez of diverting his responsibilities.
“Spain has no one in charge. There is a total lack of leadership,” said Pablo Casado, leader of the conservative People’s Party, who leads opposition to the left-wing coalition in Sanchez.
The country’s uncompromising blockade helped reduce the spread of the virus until June, however, some experts said that despite the recent outbreak of cases, the restart too early and too quickly restarted. Weeks of efforts to shut down the economy and keep 46 million citizens at home temporarily disappeared over the summer, long before officials waited for a momentary wave.
Some of the blame is aimed at under-tracking who has approached those who test positive. Ministry of Health officials said more than 60% of new infections occur in social gatherings, adding within families.
In addition to supporting the military, Sanchez also encouraged Spaniards to download a cellular app that the government is deploying from region to region and which, according to the prime minister, would track the spread of the virus.
The recent uptick in new instances, adding up to 7, one hundred reported on Tuesday, has once again made Spain the country with the maximum number of instances shown in Europe, with a total of 412,553. Spain’s cumulative occurrence of 175.7 infections, consisting of 100,000 inhabitants in the last 14 days, a variable heavily monitored by epidemiologists, is by far that of the region. Malta alone, with 123.6 cases matching one hundred, 000, is also above the hundred mark.
Some parts of Spain, such as Catalonia in the northeast and Murcia in the southeast, have prolonged the ban on social gatherings of more than 10 and six people, respectively. The Government of Madrid, again at the climax of the fastest speed of new cases, is recommending that citizens leave their homes only for activities that are necessary.
Anxiety is also increasing among parents and teachers who are waiting for revised protocols to return to school, with a steady look at a key government assembly on the factor on Thursday. Kindergarten categories are scheduled in the Spanish capital and in the northern province of Navarra to begin on September 4, and the maximum regions start the new school year in the 3rd week of the month.
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