Madrid, Apr 3 (IANS): Former Spanish league champions Atletico Madrid has cut 70 per cent of the salaries of its players and coaching staff. The club said that this agreement will help them supplement the salaries of 430 employees who will be temporarily suspended amid the coronavirus outbreak in Spain.

The country has declared a national emergency and a company can under Spanish law greatly reduce its labour costs by having its employees stay at home with a guarantee that they will retain their positions once they can go back to working.

The club said that the salary-cut applies to men's first team, the Atletico Madrid B team and the women's first team for the duration of the state of emergency.

"From the first moment, the objective of the club when studying the possible measures to tackle this delicate situation has been to minimise as much as possible the effect of said measures on the salaries of its employees. The agreement reached with the first team will also allow the club to supplement the salaries of 430 employees affected by the ERTE, from which only players and coaches of professional teams are excluded," said the club in its statement.

Spain is one of the worst hit countries in the world due to the virus with over 10,000 people dead. The country has reported over 1,12,000 cases of infection.