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Spain’s prime minister has called for the European Union to roll out its own “Marshall Plan,” describing a program of public investment capable of countering the deep economic blow of the crisis.



The country has emerged as one of the hardest hit in Europe, with the death toll soaring to 1,720. The country has 28,572 confirmed cases – a number that is expected to rise in the coming days as expanded testing is rolled out.

Officials have warned that the worst is yet to come. “We’re in a critical moment, the days ahead will be hard,” the prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, said in a televised address on Saturday. “We have to ready ourselves psychologically and emotionally.”

Around 12% – or 3,475 of the confirmed cases – are doctors, nurses and others on the frontlines of the coronavirus battle, the head of Spain’s health emergency centre, Fernando Simón said Sunday. Earlier this week, Spain lost its first healthcare worker to the virus: A 52-year-old nurse from the Basque Country.

As the government scrambles to contain the virus, a near-total lockdown has been imposed with residents ordered to stay in their homes save for essential trips. Sánchez said on Sunday that he would seek to extend the emergency measures until 11 April.

He also announced additional measures, including a 30-day restriction on travellers arriving from non-EU countries, save for those on essential travel. As well, regional governments will be given the power to take control of private care homes amid concerns that the unchecked spread of the virus in care facilities could be linked to the deaths of at least 100 people.

While the country struggles to contain the virus, many worry about the economic impact it will have on a country where the unemployment rate already ranks among the highest in the industrialised world.

Praising the EU’s response to the crisis so far, Sánchez called for an EU-wide plan aimed at reinvigorating the economies of member states. “We need to articulate a grand Marshall Plan of reconstruction,” he said.

“Europe is at war against the coronavirus. And we have to respond with all of our weapons, with all our tools.”