Spanish court says COVID-19 state of emergency was unconstitutional

Spain's Constitutional Court ruled on Wednesday that a national state of emergency, which included a strict home confinement to curb the first wave of COVID-19 infections last year, was unconstitutional, the court said in a statement.

Introduced last March, the state of emergency allowed the government to temporarily suspend civil liberties, confining almost all Spaniards to their homes and shutting down all but essential industries.