A handout photo made available by the Moncloa Press Office of the Spanish Prime Minister shows Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez (6-R) sitting next to Health Minister Salvador Illa (7-R) and the Director of Spain's Center for Coordination of Health Alerts and Emergencies (CCAES), Fernando Simon (5-R), during an inter-ministerial committee briefing on the COVID-19 disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus held at the Moncloa Palace in Madrid, Spain, 10 March 2020. (España) EFE/EPA/FERNANDO CALVO / HANDOUT EDITORIAL USE ONLY/NO SALES HANDOUT EDITORIAL USE ONLY/NO SALES Spanish authorities hold inter-ministerial committee briefing on coronavirus situation | FERNANDO CALVO / HANDOUT

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Spain's government has banned all public events with an attendance of more than 1,000 people in Madrid, two areas in the Basque Country and La Rioja in an effort to contain the spread of the coronavirus, Health Minister Salvador Illa said earlier today.

In the rest of the country, the government will evaluate whether to ban mass-attendance events on a case-by-case basis, the minister said.