The partial closure in the Spanish capital affects one million people

Madrid-Sana

A million residents of Madrid are subject to a partial lockdown today, as the authorities tighten restrictions aimed at slowing the spread of the Corona virus, a decision that the central government considers insufficient, calling for the application of restrictions throughout the capital.

The French Press Agency reported that, since midnight last night, local authorities imposed new restrictions on the movement of 167,000 people, who could not leave except to go to work or school or for medical reasons, even though they were able to move freely within their areas.

Police are patrolling about one-sixth of the area's population to make sure they enforce the new rules, who number 6.6 million.

The city and the surrounding area became the epicenter of a second wave of Corona injuries in Spain, which recorded the death of more than 31,000 people out of 700,000, at the highest rate in the European Union.

"In cooperation with the government, it is the responsibility of the region to contain the Covid 19 infection," Spanish Foreign Minister Arancha Gonzalez Laya said in a television statement.

But the central government is not satisfied with the regional government's management of the issue in Madrid, the epicenter of the virus outbreak in Spain, and has urged the capital's officials to take more stringent measures and even threatened to intervene if its proposals were rejected.

Last week, Spain recorded the highest number of new cases within the European Union, with an average of 300 people per 100,000 people, but in the Madrid region, the rate is now more than 700 cases per 100,000 people.