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HEALTH-VIRUS-SPAIN
Madrid braces for partial lockdown as virus surges
MADRID, Sept 20, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – Nearly a million Madrid
residents were bracing Sunday for a partial lockdown as Spanish
authorities seek to put a brake on a second wave of Covid-19.
The restrictions, which kick off Monday for two weeks, affect
850,000 people living mainly in densely-populated, low-income
neighbourhoods in the south — or 13 percent of the population in
and around the capital.
Like many countries in Europe, Spain is battling a
coronavirus surge and, once again, Madrid is the worst-hit region.
“We’re concerned with the data we’re seeing, because the
number of cases is double that of the national average and the
number of hospital admissions… is triple the national average,”
Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said in a television interview
Saturday.
But he stressed he was not contemplating a national lockdown.
Several districts of southern Madrid have counted more than
1,000 cases per 100,000 inhabitants — around five times the
national average, which in itself is the highest in the European
Union.
Residents will be banned from leaving their district other
than for essential travel like work, medical care or taking
children to school, Madrid’s regional government said Friday.
They will be allowed to move around freely inside their zone
but no one from outside will be allowed in unless absolutely
essential.
Parks will be closed but shops, bars and restaurants will
remain open at 50 percent capacity.
Meanwhile, gatherings of more than six people will be banned
in the entire region, down from ten currently. On Sunday, people
took to the streets in some of the affected districts in protest
against the new measures.
They sported placards reading “No to a class-based lockdown”
or “They’re destroying our district and now they’re locking us
up.”
Madrid’s regional president Isabel Diaz Ayuso, who has been
slammed for her management of the crisis, is due to meet Sanchez
on Monday.
The meeting is a sign of central government concern over the
crisis in Madrid, as the management of public health issues is
normally the responsibility of Spanish regional authorities.
Regional health officials say Madrid’s healthcare system is
under growing pressure, with one in five hospital beds occupied by
Covid patients.
As such, experts fear a sharp increase in the regional
mortality rate — which is currently much lower than in the spring
— over the coming weeks.
Spain has so far recorded over 30,000 deaths and 600,000
confirmed cases, according to official figures.
BSS/AFP/ARS/1918 hrs