Madrid (AFP)

The containment of the population will be extended in Spain until April 25 to curb the spread of the coronavirus, announced Saturday the head of government Pedro Sanchez, who did not rule out other extensions.

The economic "hibernation" decreed last Sunday and consisting in stopping for two weeks all non-essential activities will however not be extended beyond the Easter weekend, added the socialist.

"The Council of Ministers next Tuesday will again seek the authorization of the Chamber of Deputies to extend, for the second time, the state of alert", which made it possible to impose confinement of the strictest, "until to Saturday, April 25 at midnight, "said Mr. Sanchez in a television address.

Decreed on March 14, the state of alert was to end on April 11 at midnight after having already been extended by two weeks.

These two additional weeks of confinement are "the time it takes for our health care system to recover," said Sanchez.

Spain is the second most bereaved country in the world after Italy, with 11,744 deaths due to Covid-19 according to the last assessment published on Saturday, and nearly 125,000 confirmed cases.

The increase in the number of cases, however, has slowed gradually since the middle of last week and the death toll has just dropped two days in a row to 809 after the record 950 deaths announced Thursday.

- "Glimmer of hope" -

"We now know that these three weeks of collective isolation" since mid-March "are bearing fruit," said Mr. Sanchez. This confinement has helped "stop the spread of the virus, contain the avalanche on hospitals, treat the sick and save lives," he said.

However, "relaxing now would be even worse," warned the leader, stressing the risk of a "second wave" of contagions.

"Yes, we see a ray of hope", but "we are entering a new phase which is not at all easy, the transition phase", underlined doctor Maria José Sierra, of the health alerts center.

Mr. Sanchez did not rule out further extensions of the state of alert, while hinting at the possibility of relaxing the strict containment rules if the situation improves.

"We will have several states of alert (...) until the final return to normal," he explained.

"We are starting to observe a certain relaxation in the respect of the rules (...) and we must ask you not to despair, not to relax" and "to stay at home", asked for his part the national police chief José Garcia Molina at a press conference.

Spain is also still engaged in a race against the clock to procure the medical equipment which is sorely lacking in its overwhelmed hospitals, in particular respirators.

About fifty arrived from Germany Friday, within the framework of the request for aid of Spain to its NATO allies.

Another shipment was to be sent from Turkey but was finally requisitioned by the Turkish authorities.

"For the time being (this material) will not leave Turkey because the (Turkish) government considers it a priority" for its own patients, but it will again be made available to Spain "within a reasonable time", assured the Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs Arancha Gonzalez Laya on Friday evening.

© 2020 AFP