Finance Minister and government spokesperson María Jesús Montero says life in Spain will slowly begin to return to normal

Finance Minister and government spokesperson María Jesús Montero says life in Spain will slowly begin to return to normal after the state of alarm comes to an end on April 26.

Montero said we will slowly return to “normal life” but in progressive stages, following the recommendations of health experts in order to avoid a second wave of coronavirus infections.

She said the government is working on “different scenarios” on how the confinement measures could be eased, but refused to go into further details until “the experts decide” on how to proceed.

According to the minister, more information on the spread of the outbreak is still needed before any decision can be made.

Montero added that the government’s “strict” definition of what constitutes a coronavirus victim was responsible for the gap between the Health Ministry’s official figures on deaths and the records at civil registries across Spain.

The number of daily coronavirus fatalities here rose to 757 yesterday, this represents a small rise over Tuesday, which also saw a slight rise in overnight fatalities, to 743.

Authorities are now placing their hopes on the improving numbers coming from intensive care units, where there has been a drop in the number of new patients.

Montero also said that from this Monday, in most regions, non-essential workers will return to work, apart from those who can work from home.

Meanwhile the government does not plan to suspend tax payments because it needs funds to continue to support people who receive unemployment benefits and other social aid.

In March, the government approved measures to help businesses and self-employed workers with cash-flow problems, and introduced a six-month moratorium on the payment of several taxes, including income tax (IRPF), corporate tax and value-added tax (VAT).

The minister said that the government was also considering the possibility of extending the payment deadline of other taxes.

Montero spoke about the EU meeting of finance ministers that failed to come up with a coordinated economic response to the coronavirus crisis saying Spain needs help from other countries and that is what Europe was built for.

Written by BayRadio