MADRID (AP) Spains government announced Saturday that it is placing tight restrictions on movements and closing restaurants and other establishments in the nation of 46 million people as part of a two-week state of emergency to fight the sharp rise in coronavirus infections.

Spain has followed Italys path in implementing a similar lockdown after both European countries failed to contain the virus in regional hotspots.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Snchez detailed the battery of exceptional measures in a nationally televised address after holding a Cabinet meeting that lasted over seven hours. The delay was reportedly due to discrepancies in the coalition government of Snchezs Socialists and the anti-austerity United We Can.