Spain imposes national curfew to curb COVID spread

(FASTNEWS | COLOMBO) –  Spain has declared a national state of emergency and imposed a night-time curfew in an effort to help control a new spike in Covid-19 infections.

Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said the curfew, which came into force on Sunday night, would be in place between the hours of 23:00 and 06:00

Under the measures, local authorities can also ban travel between regions.

Mr Sánchez said he would ask parliament to extend the new rules, initially in force for 15 days, to six months.

Spain was hit hard during the first wave of the pandemic earlier this year and at the time imposed a much more restrictive lockdown – one of the toughest in the world.

Like many other European regions, however, it has been hit by a second wave of infections.