Spanish government agrees to partial lockdown Madrid | Abroad

Residents of Madrid are not allowed to leave the city, except for essential travel under the new restrictions. The city limits will also be closed to outsiders for unnecessary visits. The measures simultaneously apply to nine other cities with high contamination rates in the metropolitan area around Madrid. The new rules will come into effect in the coming days.

“This agreement has been approved by a broad majority,” said Health Minister Salvador Illa. This was done after consultation with the seventeen autonomous regions of Spain, which are responsible for public health care. “The health of Madrid is the health of Spain. Madrid is special, ”Illa said at a press conference.

People are allowed to cross municipal boundaries to go to work or school, to the doctor or to shop, but must remain in the city for leisure activities.

The Madrid region has more than a third of the 133,604 corona cases reported in Spain in the past two weeks.

Spain has registered a total of 769,188 infection cases, more than any other country in Western Europe. The total death toll stands at 31,791.

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