Madrid in lockdown as pressure grows in Europe over infections
Political pressure is growing for European governments to tackle the rising number of coronavirus case without re sorting to a spring-style lockdown that would hit the continent’s struggling economies.
Data released by the Euro - pean Centre for Disease Prevention and Control yesterday showed five countries across the continent with more than 120 confirmed cases per 100,000 inhabitants in the past 14 days.
Spain was ranked top of the grim table, with almost all of its regions coloured crimson on a map that also showed swathes of dark red spreading across southern France, the Czech Republic, Croatia and Romania.
Spanish prime minister Pedro Sanchez yesterday met the president of the Madrid region, Isabel Diaz Ayu so, to co-ordinate a stronger response to the outbreaks as the country struggles to contain a second wave of the virus. Diaz Ayuso, who heads a centre -right coalition, has been one of the leading critics of the left-leaning central govern - ment even as her own administration has been blamed for not putting enough resources into primary care or contact tracers to identify possible new sources of contagion in the capital.
Madrid’s rate of infection of 683 cases per 100,000 inhab - itants in the past two weeks is nearly three times higher than the national average.
Police in the Spanish capital and its surrounding towns began stopping people coming in and out of working-class neighbourhoods that have seen 14-day transmission rates above 1,000 per 100,000 inhabitants. The measure has been met with protests from people who think the restrictions stigmatise the poor.
Some 860,000 residents are affected by the new restrictions, having to justify their trips out of their neighbourhoods for work, study or medical reasons. Parks are closed and shops and restaurants must limit their occupancy to 50 per cent in the affected zones.
Authorities say those unable to justify their trips will face fines starting tomorrow.
Covid-19 has killed at least 30,000 people in Spain since the start of the outbreak, according to the country’ s health ministry.
In the Czech Republic, health minister Adam Vojtech re signed yesterday amid a record rise of corona virus infections, saying his move should create space for a new approach to the pandemic.
The central European country coped well with the first infection wave in the spring, but has now faced a record surge. On Thursday it recorded more than 3,000 new cases, almost the same number as it did in all of March.
The Czech Republic has had a total of 49,290 infected with 503 deaths since the star t of the pandemic.
Neighbouring Poland is also seeing a spike in new cases that experts link to the return to schools and offices, with a record 1,002 reported Saturday, and almost 750 yesterday.
French health authorities have started opening new testing centres in the Paris region to try to reduce queue sand delays as the number of virus infections steadily increases.
In total, 20 new testing centres were scheduled to open in the French capital and its suburbs this week.
All people in France are allowed to get the test for free, whether they have symptoms or not. Infections in France reached a new record-high this weekend with more than 13,000 new cases in 24 hours. There have been at least 31,285 deaths in the country since the star t of the pandemic – one of the highest death tolls in Europe.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel met yesterday with her “coronavirus cabinet” to discuss measures aimed at preventing a second wave. The governor of Bavaria, Markus So ed er, warned conditions could worsen as temperatures drop in coming weeks.