Spain declares state of emergency over COVID-19 spike

Spain has declared a national state of emergency and imposed a night-time curfew in an effort to help control a new spike in COVID-19 infections.

Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said the curfew, which came into force on Sunday night, would be in place between 11pm to 6am.

Under the measures, local authorities can also ban travel between regions.

Mr Sánchez said he would ask parliament to extend the new rules, initially in force for 15 days, to six months.

Earlier this year, Spain was hit hard during the first wave of the pandemic and at the time imposed a much more restrictive lockdown, one of the toughest in the world.