No lockdown in Spain despite sharp rise in cases

Spain's health minister said on Saturday that his government will attempt to avoid a full-scale lockdown as it stands by its pledge to vaccinate a large part of its population by the summer despite the delay in the distribution of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.

Health Minister Salvador Illa said that stricter measures such as the lockdowns imposed in the UK or The Netherlands are not being considered, despite Spain reporting 40,197 new cases on Friday, its highest daily figure since the start of the pandemic.

Illa also said that even though Spain will only receive 56% of the expected doses next week from Pfizer, Spain's vaccination program is on course to immunize 70% of the population by the summer.

U.S. pharmaceutical company Pfizer announced on Friday it will temporarily reduce deliveries of its COVID-19 vaccine to European countries while it upgrades production capacity.

Illa said the following week the allotment of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine should return to 100% of the expected amount.

Spain has administered over 600,000 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.

It is also rolling out the Moderna vaccine, with less than 500 doses administered so far.

(IMAGE CREDITS:AP)