FRIDAY,MARCH27,2020 | THEGLOBEANDMAIL O NEWS | A1 1
T
he Britishgovernment has
bowed to growing pressure
to help self-employed
workers affected by the new coro-
navirus outbreak by offering pay-
ments that will cover most of
their lost income.
Chancellor of the Exchequer
Rishi Sunak announced on
Thursday that the payments will
be worth 80 per cent of lost in-
come up to a monthly maximum
of £2,500, or $4,285. The finance
minister said the measure will
help the vast majority of the
country’s five million self-em-
ployed workers, but the program
won’t be in place until June and
it’s only open to people who have
filed tax returns for three years.
He also warned that these work-
ers could face higher taxes in fu-
ture to help recover the cost.
The package is just the latest
effort by Britain and other gov-
ernments around the world to ad-
dress the growing economic
fallout from the pandemic as
businesses shut down and mil-
lions of people are thrown out of
work. The government had al-
ready unveiled plans to help busi-
nesses and salaried workers. But
it’s far from clear whether it all
will be enough.
Britain has 11,658 confirmed
cases of the virus and 578 deaths,
and both figures have been rising
sharply recently. Jennifer Harries,
the Deputy Chief Medical Officer
for England, warned on Thursdaythe strict measures will last for at
least three weeks. All non-essen-
tial shops have been closed and
people have been ordered to
work from home unless absolute-
ly necessary. Public gatherings of
more than two people (families
excluded) have been banned and
train services curtailed.
On Thursday,the government
gave police the power to use “rea-
sonable force” if necessary to en-
force the new rules and it intro-
duced a series of fines for offend-
ers. The penalties are relatively
low compared with those in
countries that have imposed sim-
ilar lockdowns. Fines start at £60,
but drop to £30 if paid within 1 4
days, and go up to a maximum of
£960. By contrast, fines in Spain
range from €600, or $931, up to
€30,000.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson
also hasn’t brought in the mili-
tary to help enforce the lockdown
or called for police roadblocks to
monitor people like other coun-
tries have done. However, some
police forces have taken matters
into their own hands. The North
Yorkshire Police in northern En-
gland said on Thursday that offi-
cers would start “stopping vehi-
cles and asking motorists where
they are going, why they are going
there.” Police in Wales have also
begun questioning drivers and
patrolling popular tourist spots
to order people to return home.
“We sincerely hope that we won’t
have to resort to enforcement ac-
tion, but if people do not comply,
we will,” said Mike Walker, the As-
sistant Chief Constable in North
Yorkshire.that measures to control the vi-
rus, including lockdowns, could
be needed for six months.
While quantifying the eco-
nomic cost of the outbreak is all
but impossible, economists say
there’s little doubt that a global
recession is likely. “We expect the
global economy to contract by 0.
per cent this year, implying a re-
cession more severe than the one
in 2009 during the global finan-
cial crisis,” said a report from TD
Economics released Thursday.
The Bank of England also said on
Thursday that “the scale and du-
ration of the shock to economic
activity, while highly uncertain,
will be large and sharp.” But it
added that the impact “should ul-
timately prove temporary, partic-
ularly if job losses and business
failures can be minimized.”
The costs of the various actions
to prop up the economy are also
piling up. Britain has already
launched a program of grants and
loans worth more than £330-bil-
lion to support businesses affect-
ed by the virus.The government
also said it would cover up to 80
per cent of the income of laid-off
salaried employees, but it then
faced calls to do something for
self-employed workers and peo-
ple on contract. The plan an-
nounced Thursday is expected to
cost at least £35-billion. Mr. Sunak
acknowledged that “these last 10
days have shaken our country
and our economy.” And he insist-
ed that the actions taken by the
government were necessary re-
gardless of the cost.
Britain has been under a near
total lockdown since Monday andBritainexpandsincome-supportprogram
togiveself-employedworkersaccess
PAULWALDIE
EUROPECORRESPONDENT
LONDONSpain extended its coronavirus
lockdown on Thursday and said it
was fighting a “real war” over
medical supplies to contain the
world’s second-highest virus
death toll, turning to China for
many critical products, where of-
ficials reported fraud and massive
price increases.
A further 655 people died over-
night, pushing Spain’s toll from
the respiratory disease to 4,089,
second only to Italy and further
beyond China where the out-
break began.
Elderly nursing home resi-
dents have been particularly hard
hit. In Madrid, the region worst af-
fected by the virus, authorities
pledged to assess each residence
and take urgent action as infec-
tions and deaths among their vul-
nerable population mounted.
“Old people have been aban-
doned in an astonishing way,”
said Carmen Flores, head of pa-
tients’ rights group Defensor del
Paciente.
In Madrid, Spain’s capital and
biggest city, located in the coun-
try’s worst-affected region, an ice
rink has been converted into a
morgue and 13-time Champions
League winners Real Madrid said
their Santiago Bernabeu stadium
would be used to store medical
supplies.
Coronavirus cases rose by 18
per cent to 56,188, a slower rateEmbassy in Madrid wrote on Twit-
ter that the manufacturer did not
have a licence to sell. Spain coun-
tered that the products had Eu-
ropean certification.
A diplomatic source said that
prices had gone up tenfold in
some cases and Chinese firms
were demanding payment up-
front. A health authority source
said there were queues of aircraft
in some Chinese airports just to
buy such supplies and middle-
men often defrauded buyers.
The officials did not name
those sellers, saying only they
were usually smaller, private
firms.
Parliament extended until
April 12 emergency measures, in-
cluding the lockdown that has
confined people to their homes
except to buy food or medicine
and to work.
“It is not easy to extend the
state of emergency,” Prime Minis-
ter Pedro Sanchez told parlia-
ment. “I am convinced the only
efficient option against the virus
is social isolation.”
Although the main opposition
conservative People’s Party sup-
ported the measure, its leader, Pa-
blo Casado, chastised Mr. Sanchez
for what he called a late and inad-
equate response.
While Spain’s death toll is still
well below Italy’s 8,165, it has
been rising faster, and has soared
tenfold since Spain declared the
state of emergency on March 14.REUTERSthan in the past few days. Health
emergency chief Fernando Simon
said the start of mass testing
would reveal more infections,
even as Health Minister Salvador
Illa cautiously told parliament
the data “make us think we are
starting a stabilization phase.”With the world’s fourth-high-
est number of cases, Spain is feel-
ing the pinch of a global shortage
of protective equipment.
“We are in a real war to get hold
of ventilators, face masks and
quick test kits,” Budget Minister
Maria Jesus Montero told Telecin-
co television. “All the countries
are fighting to secure domestic
production, fighting to get suppli-
es from China,” she said.
Spain has ordered €432-mil-
lion ($670-million) of goods from
China, asked the North Atlantic
Treaty Organization for help and
pledged to support factories
adapting their production lines to
make more goods at home.
Separately, thegovernment re-
turned a batch of faulty Chinese-
made rapid tests to the Spanish
firm that supplied them. China’sHealth-careworkers,seenoutsideahospitalinBarcelonaonThursday,applaudisolatedcitizensthathelda
flashmobfromtheirbalconiestothankhealthandmedicalstaff.DAVIDRAMOS/GETTYIMAGESSpainextendscoronaviruslockdownasit
battles‘war’toacquiremoremedicalsupplies
NATHANALLEN
INTILANDAUROMADRIDSamaritan’sPurse
doctorsandnurses
begintreatingpatients
atthefieldhospitalon
March20.
KIME.ROWLAND/
SAMARITAN’SPURSETheSamaritan’sChoice
DC-8cargoplanecarried
morethan20tonnesof
medicalequipmentto
northernItaly,whichhas
beenparticularlyhardhit
bythepandemic.
DAVIDK.MORRISONPHOTOThefieldhospitalhas
14tentsand68beds.
Tenofthebedsforman
intensive-careunitand
eachisequippedwith
apulmonaryrespirator,
aprovenlife-saverfor
thecriticallyill.
KIME.ROWLAND/
SAMARITAN’SPURSEInCanada,weneed
toreallyprepare
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cancontacttrace.
JOHNTROKE
NURSINGTEAMLEADER
FROMWINNIPEG
Weareinarealwarto
getholdofventilators,
facemasksandquick
testkits.MARIAJESUSMONTERO
SPAIN’SBUDGETMINISTER