Coronavirus: ‘empty streets’ as Spain braces for nationwide lockdown

People will be barred from leaving home for the next two weeks unless they need food, medicine or if they have to go to work

It is the worst-hit country in Europe after Italy, which has imposed similar restrictions

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The usually bustling Gran Via in Madrid is deserted on Sunday, a day after the Spanish government announced a lockdown. Photo: EPA-EFE

Published: 10:00pm, 15 Mar 2020Updated: 10:00pm, 15 Mar 2020

Spain on Monday begins a nationwide lockdown to keep people at home, just as Italy has done, as it tries to contain the spread of the deadly coronavirus.

Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez – whose wife Begona Gomez has tested positive for the virus – said Spaniards would be barred from leaving home for the next two weeks, except for buying food, medicine or if they had to go to work.

The country of 46 million people has the second-highest number of coronavirus cases in Europe after Italy – the worst-hit nation outside China, where the outbreak began. Europe is now the epicentre of the pandemic which has claimed over 5,900 lives worldwide since it began in December.

In Spain, more than 5,700 people have tested positive for the virus, with over 180 deaths. Meanwhile in Italy, more than 21,000 cases have strained the hospital system – especially in the Lombardy region, where more patients were admitted to intensive care wards on Saturday than any other day since the outbreak began.

The death toll in Italy stood at 1,441 as of Sunday, almost half the number killed in China. One of the country’s most celebrated architects, Vittorio Gregotti, whose work includes Barcelona’s Olympic Stadium, died from the disease in Milan on Saturday at the age of 92, Italian media reported.