Strict lockdown measures are being reimposed in Spain after health officials in the country recorded a recent spike in coronavirus cases.
Speaking earlier this week, Health Minister Salvador Illa confirmed that there are more than 2,500 confirmed cases of the coronavirus in the country at the moment and more than 220 new “local outbreaks” that have prompted decisive action.
“The majority (of new cases) are related to fruit collection and also to the spaces where measures to avoid contact are relaxed,” Illa told Spain’s Parliament. “We have to call on citizens to not lose respect for the virus — not to be afraid of it, but not to lose respect for it either.”
Spain was one of the hardest-hit countries in Europe when the virus first broke out on the continent in March, and officials are worried that residents, especially younger people, are helping the virus spread by failing to take necessary safety precautions. In Barcelona, for example, officials will now limit the number of people visiting beaches to 10 people per group after a recent spike in the Catalonia region.
In the Spanish capital of Madrid, more than 700 new cases of the coronavirus were reported this week, and local authorities in the coastal city of Valencia are imposing fines for those who refuse to heed cautionary measures.
More than 270,000 cases of the coronavirus have been confirmed in the country, and close to 30,000 people have died.
