Spanish Lawmakers Approve State of Emergency Extension to May 9
- Country tackling world’s second-most extensive virus outbreak
- Death toll has exceeded 20,000 with 86,000 people recovering
Paramedics assist an elderly patient in a wheelchair from an ambulance in Barcelona on April 17.
Photographer: Angel Garcia/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Spain’s parliament backed Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s request to extend a state of emergency to May 9, as the country tries to rein in the world’s second-most extensive coronavirus outbreak.
The conservative People’s Party, the main opposition group, voted in favor of prolonging the measure for a third time, giving Sanchez’s Socialists enough support. The prime minister needs emergency powers to keep a lockdown in place and to exert full control over the country’s health system.