Additional containment relief may soon take place in Spain. After the authorization to go out for walks granted, from Sunday April 26, to children under 14, Pedro Sanchez announced on Saturday evening that the inhabitants of the country could do the same or go out to play sports from May 2 if the Covid-19 epidemic continued to stall.

"I would like to announce to you that if the evolution of the pandemic continues in a positive direction (...), from May 2, it will be allowed to go out for individual sports activities or walks with the people with whom we live ", he said in a TV address.

The head of the Spanish government has also announced that he will present on Tuesday the plan for the deconfinement of Spain which he plans to launch from mid-May.

Spain has been subject to stricter confinement since March 14 than the other European countries, which has been extended until May 9 inclusive. Adults are currently only allowed out of their homes to work if telework is not possible, to buy food, go to the pharmacy, get medical treatment or get their dog out quickly.

Resumption of economic activity "by stages" and by regions

Pedro Sanchez, who had mentioned this week the deadline of mid-May to begin to lift the containment very gradually, announced that he would present his plan for deconfinement on Tuesday. It "will be progressive because we will not regain all of our mobility at once", he insisted.

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"All (economic) activities will resume in stages and with limitations which will change with each progress" in the fight against the epidemic, he added, stressing that the deconfinement would be different according to the regions of the country.

Spain is the third most bereaved country in the world by the coronavirus pandemic with 22,902 deaths, behind the United States and Italy. On Saturday, the country recorded 378 deaths from the new coronavirus in 24 hours, a slight rebound from 367 the previous day, which was the lowest in a month.

"A modest partial victory" against the Covid-19

The total number of confirmed cases is over 223,000 including people whose tests have shown that they have developed antibodies against the disease.

However, health authorities are now putting forward the number of only cases confirmed by virological tests - 205,905 including 2,944 in 24 hours - to emphasize that Spain has reached since Friday an important objective in its fight against the epidemic: the the number of cases confirmed in one day is now less than the number of people healed.

A total of 95,708 people have officially overcome the disease, including 3,353 in the past 24 hours.

"It is a modest partial victory," said Pedro Sanchez, urging the Spanish to continue to act with "great caution".

With AFP

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