Almost 3,000 People In Spain Arrested For Violating COVID-19 Lockdown - Interior Minister

Almost 3,000 People in Spain Arrested for Violating COVID-19 Lockdown - Interior Minister

MADRID (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 05th April, 2020) Almost 3,000 people have been arrested in Spain for violating stringent isolation measures introduced three weeks ago to slow the spread of COVID-19 in the country, Minister of the Interior Fernando Grande-Marlaska said on Sunday.

"Over the past three weeks, they [law enforcement agencies] conducted three million checks in various places, people, cars, etc. to enforce travel restrictions and ensure the safety of citizens. 2,850 people were arrested, predominantly for disobeying the authorities," Grande-Marlaska stated.

The interior minister added that 330,000 warnings have been issued for violating quarantine rules.

The Spanish government ordered a nationwide lockdown on March 14 as the coronavirus disease began to spread rapidly in the country.

On March 26, the emergency measures were extended until April 11, and the government plans to prolong the lockdown until April 26, Spanish media reported on Saturday.

As part of the emergency measures, people are only allowed to leave their residences to buy food and medication, help those in need, and for travel to work or a medical facility.

The Spanish Ministry of Health on Sunday announced that as of 19:00 GMT on Saturday, a total of 130,759 cases of COVID-19 have been reported in the country since the start of the outbreak, resulting in 12,418 deaths.

A total of 6,023 new cases were reported in the preceding 24 hours, a decrease of 1,003 new positive tests compared to the previous day.