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Spain’s government unaware yet when life gets back to normal amid coronavirus

Earlier in the day, Spanish Industry, Trade and Tourism Minister Maria Reyes Maroto pointed out that the government was drafting projects for the mass production of masks

MADRID, April 8. /TASS/. Spain’s government cannot still answer when life in the country will normalize in the wake of coronavirus spread, Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda Minister Jose Luis Abalos said on Wednesday.

Spain has been on high alert since the middle of March, which entailed travel restrictions. They are expected to be prolonged until at least April 25.

"We do not know about the country’s state by April 26 from the point of view of healthcare, which is the condition for return to normal life," he said. "The date ending the emergency will not mean the return to normal life."

Earlier in the day, Spanish Industry, Trade and Tourism Minister Maria Reyes Maroto pointed out that the government was drafting "projects for the mass production of masks."

"We are working on combining the national production with purchases," she clarified. "We have been already manufacturing more than two million masks, which is obviously not enough, but we are doing our best to increase this production."

She added that after the crisis, national tourism would be restored first and only some time later, foreign tourist arrivals could get higher.

Spain confirmed its first coronavirus case on January 31 and then has faced a dramatic increase after the outbreak in Italy. Up to now, Spain has nearly 146,700 cases and 14,555 deaths. According to the Interior Ministry, about 3,500 offenders have been detained so far for breaking the quarantine laws.

In late December 2019, Chinese officials notified the World Health Organization (WHO) about the outbreak of a previously unknown pneumonia in the city of Wuhan, in central China. Since then, cases of the novel coronavirus - named COVID-19 by the WHO - have been reported in every corner of the globe, including Russia.

On March 11, 2020, the WHO declared the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic. According to the latest statistics, over 1,400,000 people have been infected worldwide and more than 82,000 deaths have been reported. That said, over 300,000 individuals have recovered from the illness across the globe.

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