Spanish President Pedro Sánchez will today inform regional leaders of his intention to extend Spain’s State of Alarm for a further two weeks, until 9th May. Sánchez also indicated that, from the date of the third extension period beginning on 27th April, lockdown rules will be relaxed to allow children to leave the house.
Sánchez did not clarify exactly under which conditions children would be permitted to go outside, but said outings would be “limited and subject to conditions to avoid contagion.” It is thought that outings will be time-limited, restricted to zones close to the home and that children will have to be accompanied by an adult.
But there was bad news for millions of bored Spanish teenagers, as Sánchez indicated that the reference point for defining “children” would be Spain’s Public Health Law, which fixes the upper age limit at 12 years old.
Sánchez gave no indication that there would be any relaxation on the ban on personal exercise for adults before 9th May, meaning that Spain’s lockdown conditions are likely to remain among the strictest in the world.
“We’ve managed the most difficult part, “ said Sánchez. “With sacrifice, resistance and the will to win, we’ve put the most extreme moments behind us. But these achievements aren’t enough. They are fragile, and we cannot put them at risk. We need to gain more ground before we start to end the lockdown.”
However, Sánchez gave the first official acknowledgement that the relaxation of lockdown conditions could be related to the levels of contagion in different regions of Spain. This follows weeks in which the Canarian government has maintained that low contagion figures on the Canaries are a reason to relax certain restrictions here earlier.
Sánchez also announced that the government would introduce price controls on personal protective material such as face masks, disposable gloves and hand-washing gels, after reports of chemists shops and suppliers bumping up prices.
Latest statistics: 18th April , 20:00
Increase on previous day’s figures in brackets.
Total Canarian Cases: 2047 (+12)
Cases on Lanzarote: 79 (+0)
Deaths (Canaries): 119 (+4)
