Spain’s government ordered all non-essential workers to stay home for two weeks

The Spanish government has tightened up its national lockdown, ordering all non-essential workers to stay at home for the next two weeks in a bid to halt the spread of the coronavirus and relieve pressure on the country’s overstretched hospitals.

Pedro Sánchez, declared a state of emergency, two weeks ago, after Spanish health authorities said the outbreak appeared to be peaking in parts of the country.

The Guardian reports a televised address on Saturday evening, Sánchez ordered all those in non-key jobs to stay at home from Monday, saying the “extraordinarily tough” measures were needed as the county intensified its efforts to contain the pandemic.

The number of Covid-19 cases in the country rose from 64,059 on Friday to 72,248 on Saturday, and the number of dead now stands at 5,690.

Between Thursday and Friday, 769 people died from the disease.

The Guardian / El Pais