Protests held in Madrid as infection rate across Europe continues to grow

Spaniards have been protesting in Madrid against the handling of the pandemic by the city’s regional head, who has placed new restrictions on neighborhoods with the highest contagion rates.

Wearing face mask sand trying to maintain social distancing, protest ors yesterday clapped in unison while shouting for regional President Isabel Diaz Ayuso to step down.

New restrictions affect around 860,000 people who won’t be able to leave their neighbour hoods except for work, study or a medical appointment. Parks in the area are closed and shops and restaurants have to limit occupancy to 50 per cent.

Spain is struggling to contain a second wave of the virus, and Madrid’s rate of transmission is more than double the national average.

Italy reported another 1,638 new cases of the virus and 24 deaths.

Police in Paris warned that there will be no more tolerance for bars and restaurants where rules to counter the virus aren’t respected after nearly 13,500 new infections in 24 hours were reported across France on Saturday.

India has registered 92,605 new cases in the past 24 hours and is expected to surpass the United States as the worsthit country within weeks. It also reported 1,133 additional deaths yesterday, for a total of 86,752.

The US, meanwhile, is approaching 200,000 official deaths from the pandemic, as the virus continues to spread.

However, Australia’ s secondlargest city, Melbourne, has moved close to easing severe restrictions after recording only 14 new cases yesterday.

South Korea’s new tally has fallen below 100 for the first time in more than a month. Health officials say the downward trend is a result of stringent social distancing rules imposed on the densely populated Seoul metropolitan area.