Spain to allow children out of lockdown after six weeks inside
19 April 2020, 09:02
Children in Spain will be allowed out of lockdown for the first time since March 14 as part of the country’s very strict measures to stop the spread of coronavirus.
Rules will be relaxed in nine days’ time on April 27, allowing children to “get out of their houses for a period on a daily basis.”
Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said the government will seek to extend the country's state of emergency by two weeks to fight coronavirus, but will start easing the total confinement of children.
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Spain imposed one of the strictest lockdowns in Europe in mid-March that brought economic activity to a near standstill. The government, which has been under pressure from regional governments, parents and some educators to ease the lockdown for children, will begin to do so in nine days.
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Mr Sanchez said children will be allowed "to get out of their houses for a period on a daily basis", but the specifics need to be ironed out with experts.
Last night Mr Sánchez said Spain had left behind "the most extreme moments and contained the brutal onslaught of the pandemic".
He said rolling back the national lockdown will only come when the country's embattled health system is ready for possible rebounds.
The state of emergency extension until May 9 needs to be approved by parliament.
