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EU, WHO leaders to join Spain victims' memorial on July 16

  • Spain suffered a particularly deadly outbreak of the virus which infected more than 244,000 people, with its figure of 27,136 dead making it the sixth worst-hit country in the world.
Published June 17, 2020

MADRID: Spain will formally honour its coronavirus victims on July 16 with a ceremony that will be attended by top EU and World Health Organization figures, the prime minister said Wednesday.

"There will be a state ceremony on July 16 to honour our 27,000 fellow countrymen who lost their lives that will also pay homage to those public servants who have been fighting on the front line against the pandemic," Pedro Sanchez told parliament.

Spain's King Felipe VI will preside over the event which will be attended by EU Council chief Charles Michel, European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen, European Parliament leader David Sassoli, top EU diplomat Josep Borrell and World Health Organization head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

Spain suffered a particularly deadly outbreak of the virus which infected more than 244,000 people, with its figure of 27,136 dead making it the sixth worst-hit country in the world.

On May 27, Spain started a 10-day mourning period for the victims of the epidemic, the longest ever decreed since the country returned to democracy with the fall of the Franco dictatorship in 1975.

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