Spain locks down county of 2 lakh due to rise in COVID-19

A man wearing a face mask sits at the Sagrada Familia basilica. Pic/AFP

Authorities in northeastern Spain on Saturday ordered the lockdown of a county around the city of Lleida due to worrying outbreaks of the COVID-19 virus. Catalan regional authorities announced that as of noon local time, movement will be restricted to and from El Segriá, around Lleida, which is home to over 2,00,000 people.

Residents will have until 4 pm to enter the area. This is the first restriction of free movement since the end of Spain's state of emergency on June 21. Regional health authorities said on Friday that they had registered a jump of 60 cases in 24 hours, taking the total number of infections to over 4,000 in the county. The new outbreaks are linked to agricultural workers in rural areas.

"We have decided to confine Segria due to data that confirms too significant a growth in the number of COVID-19 infections," Catalan regional president Quim Torra said. Spain was completely locked down from March to June to get its Coronavirus outbreak under control, before its national government ended a state of emergency. Spain has registered 2,05,545 COVID-19 cases and 28,385 deaths, making it one of the worst-affected countries in Europe.

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