Spain split between concern and relief as coronavirus lockdown eased
Skip to main content
  • Home
  • Economy
    • Aviation
    • Bazaar
    • Budget
    • Industry
    • NBR
    • RMG
    • Corporates
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Features
    • Book Review
    • Brands
    • Earth
    • Explorer
    • Fact Check
    • Family
    • Food
    • Game Reviews
    • Good Practices
    • Habitat
    • Humour
    • In Focus
    • Luxury
    • Mode
    • Panorama
    • Pursuit
    • Wealth
    • Wellbeing
    • Wheels
  • Epaper
  • More
    • Subscribe
    • Videos
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • COVID-19
    • Games
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Podcast
    • Quiz
    • Tech
    • Trial By Trivia
    • Magazine
  • বাংলা
The Business Standard

Sunday
February 05, 2023

Sign In
Subscribe
  • Home
  • Economy
    • Aviation
    • Bazaar
    • Budget
    • Industry
    • NBR
    • RMG
    • Corporates
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Features
    • Book Review
    • Brands
    • Earth
    • Explorer
    • Fact Check
    • Family
    • Food
    • Game Reviews
    • Good Practices
    • Habitat
    • Humour
    • In Focus
    • Luxury
    • Mode
    • Panorama
    • Pursuit
    • Wealth
    • Wellbeing
    • Wheels
  • Epaper
  • More
    • Subscribe
    • Videos
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • COVID-19
    • Games
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Podcast
    • Quiz
    • Tech
    • Trial By Trivia
    • Magazine
  • বাংলা
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 05, 2023
Spain split between concern and relief as coronavirus lockdown eased

Coronavirus chronicle

Reuters
14 April, 2020, 06:20 pm
Last modified: 14 April, 2020, 06:28 pm

Related News

  • Spain church machete attack suspect was 25-year-old Moroccan
  • At least one dead, several injured in machete attack at southern Spain churches
  • Thousands march in Spain to demand end of violence against women
  • Spain offers to help develop Bangladeshi tourism
  • France, Germany, Spain agree on moving on with FCAS warplane development

Spain split between concern and relief as coronavirus lockdown eased

With the overnight death toll edging up further beyond 500, some frontline workers have joined the head of the Catalan regional government in questioning if the curbs were being lifted too soon

Reuters
14 April, 2020, 06:20 pm
Last modified: 14 April, 2020, 06:28 pm
People keep social distance as they wait to enter a supermarket amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Madrid, Spain April 14, 2020. REUTERS/Sergio Perez
People keep social distance as they wait to enter a supermarket amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Madrid, Spain April 14, 2020. REUTERS/Sergio Perez

The construction sector across Spain and other industries in Catalonia and the Basque Country went back to work on Tuesday, after the government eased one of the world's toughest coronavirus lockdowns as the pace of new infections slowed.

However, with the overnight death toll edging up further beyond 500, some frontline workers have joined the head of the Catalan regional government in questioning if the curbs were being lifted too soon.

For Roberto Aguayo, a 50-year-old Barcelona construction worker, the restart came just in time.

"We really needed it, just when we were going to run out of food we returned to work," he told Reuters. "...People are keeping a safe distance and I think it is very good," he added.

Spain is one of the countries worst hit by the pandemic, with more than 170,000 documented cases and more than 18,000 deaths.

A lockdown banning residents from leaving home for all but the most essential activities has been credited with slowing a spiralling death rate that reached its peak in early April, as government data showed the outbreak had cost the country around 900,000 jobs in just two weeks.

Shops, bars and public spaces will stay closed until at least April 26, and on Tuesday the health ministry reported the lowest increase in new cases - 3,045 - since March 18.

In Catalonia, Spain's second-worst hit region after Madrid, health workers distributed masks to morning commuters as one of their colleagues wondered if the lockdown's gains could be wiped out.

"I understand the circumstances at an economic level, but I still find it quite hasty this return (to work), I see too many people today," said Barcelona hospital worker Monica Pinzon.

Other health care staff had previously expressed similar concerns, while Catalan leader Quim Torra on Sunday described the decision to restart these sectors as irresponsible, and called the risk of a second lockdown "enormous."

Authorities said they had closed a makeshift morgue set up in Madrid's Ice Palace skating rink, but the Barcelona Fair complex that hosts the world's largest exhibition and conference for the mobile industry was converted into a temporary hospital.

A survey by pollster Ipsos published on Tuesday showed 51% of Spaniards consider Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez's' management of the coronavirus crisis has been bad or very bad.

Spain

Comments

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderation decisions are subjective. Published comments are readers’ own views and The Business Standard does not endorse any of the readers’ comments.

Top Stories

  • ICB to withdraw Padma Bank investment as return eludes
    ICB to withdraw Padma Bank investment as return eludes
  • Some tough tasks on the plate for Bangladesh Bank!
    Some tough tasks on the plate for Bangladesh Bank!
  • Influentials thwart Bangladesh's reform attempts: Economists
    Influentials thwart Bangladesh's reform attempts: Economists

MOST VIEWED

  • Tourists ride a tour bus in Hong Kong, China October 25, 2019. REUTERS/Ammar Awad
    Hong Kong says 'hello' to woo back visitors after Covid
  • People wearing face masks following the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) outbreak are seen at Beijing Daxing International Airport in Beijing, China July 23, 2020. Photo:Reuters
    Pandemic to paradise: Chinese tourists return to Bali after three years
  • People walk outside wearing masks during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic in the Harlem area of the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York, U.S., February 10, 2022. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri
    US to end Covid-19 emergency declarations on 11 May
  • A nurse prepares a shot for Jonathan Halter as the German embassy begins its roll out of BioNTech COVID-19 vaccines for German expatriates at a Beijing United Family hospital in Beijing, China January 5, 2023. REUTERS/Thomas Peter/File Photo
    Covid remains a public health emergency, says WHO
  • FIKE PHOTO: Medical staff moves a patient into a fever clinic at a hospital, as coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreaks continue in Shanghai, China, December 19, 2022. REUTERS/Aly Song
    China approves two domestically developed Covid drugs
  • People walk with their luggage at a railway station during the annual Spring Festival travel rush ahead of the Chinese Lunar New Year, as the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak continues, in Shanghai, China January 16, 2023. REUTERS/Aly Song
    Holiday trips within China surge after lifting of Covid curbs

Related News

  • Spain church machete attack suspect was 25-year-old Moroccan
  • At least one dead, several injured in machete attack at southern Spain churches
  • Thousands march in Spain to demand end of violence against women
  • Spain offers to help develop Bangladeshi tourism
  • France, Germany, Spain agree on moving on with FCAS warplane development

Features

Sketch: TBS

Say 'Salud' before your salad main course

14h | Food
Coots running. Photo: Enam Ul Haque

Cute Coot of Baikka Beel: 'And yet he was as bald as a coot'

8h | Panorama
With only one government run specialised cancer hospital in the capital — the National Institute Of Cancer Research and Hospital (NICRH) in Mohakhali — patients have no option but to resort to private hospitals. Photo: Noor A Alam.

Cancer care: Medical treatment and beyond

15h | Panorama
Andy Mukherjee. Sketch: TBS

What makes India's billionaires' support special for Adani

1d | Panorama

More Videos from TBS

Prioritise medical equipment, raw material imports over luxury items

Prioritise medical equipment, raw material imports over luxury items

6h | TBS Round Table
Adani row rocks India’s parliament

Adani row rocks India’s parliament

5h | TBS World
Concord launches new plant to produce environment friendly bricks

Concord launches new plant to produce environment friendly bricks

11h | TBS Stories
How Asif Khan would invest his fresh funds right now

How Asif Khan would invest his fresh funds right now

11h | TBS Markets

Most Read

1
Leepu realised his love for cars from a young age and for the last 40 years, he has transformed, designed and customised hundreds of cars. Photo: Collected
Panorama

'I am not crazy about cars anymore': Nizamuddin Awlia Leepu

2
Photo: Collected
Energy

8 Ctg power plants out of production

3
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) logo is seen outside the headquarters building in Washington, U.S., September 4, 2018. REUTERS/Yuri Gripas/File Photo
Economy

IMF approves $4.7 billion loan for Bangladesh, calls for ambitious reforms

4
Fund cut as Dhaka's fast-track transit projects on slow spending lane
Infrastructure

Fund cut as Dhaka's fast-track transit projects on slow spending lane

5
Photo: Collected
Court

Japanese mother gets guardianship of daughters, free to leave country

6
Belal Ahmed new acting chairman of SIBL
Banking

Belal Ahmed new acting chairman of SIBL

EMAIL US
[email protected]
FOLLOW US
WHATSAPP
+880 1847416158
The Business Standard
  • About Us
  • Contact us
  • Sitemap
  • Privacy Policy
  • Comment Policy
Copyright © 2023
The Business Standard All rights reserved
Technical Partner: RSI Lab

Contact Us

The Business Standard

Main Office -4/A, Eskaton Garden, Dhaka- 1000

Phone: +8801847 416158 - 59

Send Opinion articles to - [email protected]

For advertisement- [email protected]