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A prison emergency has been declared in El Salvador as the country's murder rate spiked from zero during lockdown, to 22 in just one day.

President Nayib Bukele announced a 24-hour lockdown inside prisons, meaning inmates were crammed together in one room, sitting one behind the other.

Many of the prisoners were seen wearing face masks and just their pants, with their heads were just inches away from each other.

President Bukele said gang leaders would be sent into solitary confinement in a bid to fight the rise in murders across the country.

He wrote on Twitter : "No contact with the outside world. Shops will remain closed and all activities are suspended until further notice.

(Image: EL SALVADOR'S PRESIDENCY PRESS O) (Image: EL SALVADOR'S PRESIDENCY PRESS O)

"Gang leaders will go into solitary confinement."

The 22 murders is the highest recorded in a single day since June 2019, when the president took office.

He later said: "The gangs are taking advantage of the fact that almost all of our public forces are controlling the pandemic.

(Image: EL SALVADOR'S PRESIDENCY PRESS O) (Image: EL SALVADOR'S PRESIDENCY PRESS O)

"We will have to move resources to combat them."

On Sunday, the president authorised the use of "lethal force" by police officers to "defend the population and fight the country's gangs".

He tweeted: "The use of lethal force is authorised for self-defense or for the defense of the lives of Salvadorans."

El Salvador, in Central America, has one of the strictest lockdowns in the area to battle the disease.

The country began a nationwide lockdown on March 22, a day before the UK.

It has said that anyone breaking the strict measures will go to prison.

(Image: EL SALVADOR'S PRESIDENCY PRESS O)

According to the latest figures, El Salvador, which has 6.4million people has only seen 298 confirmed infections.

It has recorded eight deaths from covid-19, according to John Hopkins University.

Human rights organisations have criticised sending those breaching lockdown rules being sent to prison without the chance of going to court first.

Al Jazeera reports that the country's constitutional court has ruled to release some people detained illegally.

But President Nayib Bukele has continued to defend the police's authority to detain people and send them to quarantine.