Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez announced that he will ask Parliament to extend the state of emergency for the last time as part of the procedures to confront the Corona Virus pandemic, while British Foreign Secretary Dominic Rapp has defended London's decision to reduce cautious measures of isolation, despite objection among the scientific community.
The Spanish Prime Minister said, after a video meeting held with the heads of Spanish regional governments, that he would ask Parliament to extend the state of health emergency for an additional two weeks, for the sixth and last time since the declaration of the state of emergency.
Sanchez said that since the beginning of the last stage of easing the state of emergency procedures in most of the provinces, scheduled after June 8, the leadership powers of that stage will be handed over to regional governments, so that they can determine how to return to normalcy.
The central government
The central government will retain powers to limit freedom of movement between regions, while the Ministry of Health will retain the authority to coordinate between them on monitoring the spread of the virus and the transition to normalcy.
Spain is among the countries most affected by the pandemic by registering more than 27,000 deaths. In recent weeks, the process of lifting isolation measures has started in stages, which is supposed to end late next month, or at the latest, early July, depending on the regions.
In Britain, Foreign Minister Dominic Rapp said that his country has made the right decision to cautiously mitigate the isolation measures taken to counter the virus, and Britain may enter the second stage of easing restrictions on public closure tomorrow, amid calls from teachers ’unions to postpone the opening of schools until mid-June.
Rap said the country is moving from the fourth to the third level on the Corona virus alert system.
The British government announced that it will allow more than two million people classified as being more susceptible to corona infection, to leave the homes starting tomorrow, Monday.
Criticism of scholars
The Boris Johnson government has come under criticism from many scientists who have said it is too early and dangerous to move to easing isolation measures in the absence of an effective system to monitor new cases of emerging disease.
Britain ranks second in the list of corona deaths globally after the United States, and the fifth in the list of injuries after the United States, Brazil, Russia and Spain.
At the global level, the number of Corona patients in the world has exceeded 6 million and 207 thousand as of this evening, of whom more than 372 thousand have died, and more than two million and 769 thousand have recovered, according to the "Word Miter" website that specializes in monitoring victims of the virus.
South American countries still record a significant increase in the number of corona victims. In Brazil, official statistics indicated that the number of infected people exceeded half a million, with more than 28,000 deaths recorded, and the country is currently the second largest number of people infected with HIV globally after the United States.
Although Brazil has become the focus of the pandemic in the world, its right-wing president, Jair Bolsonaro - a fierce opponent of isolation measures - has expressed his desire to resume football matches in his country.
In Peru, which is adjacent to Brazil - the second most affected country in South America - injuries exceeded 155,000, with a total of 4,371 deaths.
Middle east
The authorities of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi today announced a one-week ban on transfers to and from them and their main cities (Abu Dhabi, Al Ain and Al Dhafra), starting from June 2, due to the desire to contain the spread of the emerging Corona virus.
In the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, security forces erected roadblocks today to implement a 24-hour curfew that authorities have extended to contain the recent increase in the number of cases of coronavirus infection. Health authorities recorded 416 new cases on Friday, and 306 on Saturday, mostly in the capital and its surrounding areas and in the south of the country.
The government eased the curfew during the month of Ramadan, but it reimposed it over the past 24 hours last week.
In Iran, the authorities said that the number of infections in Corona exceeded the threshold of 150,000, as Tehran sought to contain the disease, which has risen in frequency recently.
The Iranian government has lifted most of the restrictions it imposed to contain the outbreak of the virus, which first appeared on its soil in mid-February, but the Ministry of Health warns of a new wave of it after monitoring small spots in a number of provinces.