Madrid, The Spanish Government on Wednesday announced athletes, including La Liga players, can get back to individual training from May 4. The football matches in the country has been stopped since March 12 in wake of coronavirus pandemic that has hit the entire world.

The country's Prime Minister stated that steps are being taken to end lockdown measures slowly as Spain enters the 'de-escalation' phase with respect to the effect of the virus.

"The first phase, or phase 0, is the preparation to transition phase or the de-escalation phase, which we are already in," Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez told reporters.

"In the best-case scenario, this de-escalation phase will take a minimum of six weeks and the maximum duration we want to see is eight weeks for the whole of Spain," he added.

This comes just days after Spain's health minister had said there is no guarantee that La Liga season will resume before June considering the risks involved.

"I cannot say if football is going to be able to restart its activity before summer. It would be imprudent of me to offer a definitive view," Salvador Illa had said.

The news of players returning to training will be music to fans' ears as earlier on Tuesday, France's top-tier Ligue 1 and second division Ligue 2 were suspended due to the pandemic.

Netherlands too have called off this season of the Eredivisie without naming any champions or teams getting relegated.