“We have decided to implement perimeter controls around Segrià (county) in response to data confirming a significant growth in the number of Covid-19 cases,” Catalan regional president Quim Torra announced at a press conference.
The running of the bulls started at noon on Saturday and includes the provincial capital of Lleida. It will be implemented by 24 police checkpoints throughout the county perimeter, preventing movement of entry and exit, except to work or to serve people with special needs, two Catalan government spokespersons told CNN.
The confinement order does not have a time limit and will be in effect for as long as necessary to combat the outbreak in the county, added the two Catalan government spokesmen.
For the past few weeks, medical personnel have been trying to control several coronavirus outbreaks in the county, involving temporary farm workers in farm businesses, and also in an elderly care center and small hotel that caters to people without home.
Spain has registered more than 28,000 deaths and 250,000 cases of the pandemic, one of the most affected countries in Europe. But confinement across the country for 3.5 months slowed the pace of the virus, and the Spanish government lifted it on June 21, returning control to Spain’s 17 regional governments.
Since then, officials have reported about 50 new case outbreaks across the country, located around businesses, call centers, and even parties. But none has reached the level of the situation in the county of Segrià.
There, residents will be able to move within the county to conduct essential business, but public social gatherings will be limited to 10 people, the Catalan government said.
Elsewhere, in the south of Malaga, whose airport is an important entry point for tourists heading to the beaches of the Costa del Sol in the Mediterranean, medical authorities are investigating an outbreak with 105 confirmed cases of Covid- 19, the Andalusian regional government said on its website.
In Granada, where the Alhambra Palace cultural site is located, they are also investigating five other outbreaks, with a combined total of 29 confirmed cases, mainly in the local region, the Andalusian government said.
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