Spanish health minister confident that Madrid confinement to only last 15 days

Spanish Health Minister Salvador Illa on Thursday expressed confidence that the State of Alarm imposed by the central government on the Autonomous Community of Madrid on October 9 would only last 15 days.

Spsh Health Minister Salvador Illa on Thursday expressed confidence that the State of Alarm imposed by the central government on the Autonomous Community of Madrid on October 9 would only last 15 days.

Speaking in the Spsh Congress (the lower chamber of the parliament), Illa said he was optimistic that the measures in place would be "sufficient" to "stabilize" a situation he described as "worrying, unstable and fragile."

"The 15-day duration (of the State of Alarm) which is added to the previous days (in which movement was limited in certain parts of the capital) means a total of 23 days with restrictive measures. We are confident that is enough to stabilize the situation," said the minister.

The State of Alarm, which restricts mobility into and out of the Spsh capital and a further 12 municipalities in the region, was imposed after they passed several criteria, such as an incidence of 500 coronavirus cases per 100,000 inhabitants combined with over 10 percent of all PCR tests giving a positive COVID-19 result and over 35 percent of beds in intensive care wards occupied by COVID-19 patients.

The Health Ministry data published on Wednesday showed the incidence of just over 460 cases per 100,000 inhabitants for the city of Madrid. (/Xinhua)

( With inputs from ANI )