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Almost a million residents of Madrid and its surroundings have been relocated since this morning, over a two-week period, under severe travel restrictions in an effort to stem the outbreak of Covid-19 infections in and around the Spanish capital.
In Puente de Vallecas, one of the southern districts of Madrid targeted by these measures, police cars stopped vehicles entering or leaving the district to confirm that the driver had a document justifying their movement. according to journalists from the French Agency.
Silence and some resignation prevailed in the streets of this settlement, although last Friday’s announcements by the right-wing regional government led hundreds of thousands of left-wing protesters to express their anger at the measures they are targeting. areas of the capital and its surroundings. 
“I guess something had to be done”
“I suppose something had to be done,” said Gustavo Ojeda, 56, who was returning home after a night job at an industrial estate on the outskirts of Madrid, and said he had permission from his employer to justify it. your movement.
“Now, these measures are the most appropriate, I’m not sure,” he said, explaining the doubts raised by the announcement on Friday by regional prime minister Isabel Díaz Ayuso.
The approximately 800,000 people affected by this decision (out of a total population of 6.6 million in and around Madrid) can no longer leave their neighborhood for very specific reasons: to go to work or their school, to the doctor, to respond to a court summons or even to care for dependents.
Authorities have said they will avoid imposing fines on violators for the first two days.
After two weeks of implementation of these measures, an account will be drawn up to determine if they should be expanded, relaxed or, on the contrary, hardened. 
Possibility of a new lock
The objective of the regional authorities, who are in charge of health policy, but also that of the socialist government of Pedro Sánchez, is to avoid imposing a general blockade similar to that of last spring, whose economic impact has been catastrophic.
However, many experts believe that these measures were taken too late and doubt that they are capable of curbing the proliferation of incidents.
Madrid and its surroundings have once again become the epicenter of the pandemic in Spain, one of the European countries most affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.
The neighborhoods of the capital and neighboring suburbs affected by these restrictions show a contagion rate of more than 1,000 cases per 100,000 inhabitants in the last two weeks, a level that Diath Ayusso, president of the district, described Friday as “very serious “. .
However, his opponents claim that some municipalities with a ratio of more than 1,000 have been exempted from these measures.
Others also criticize the fact that parks and public gardens in these neighborhoods are closed, while bars and restaurants are simply forced to limit the number of customers they can receive to 50% of their capacity.
The regional government has also decided to reduce from 10 to 6 the number of people who can meet in a public or private space throughout the region.
VIDEO: 🇪🇸 There are roadblocks in #Madrid as the Spanish capital enters a #coronavirus emergency shutdown. The restrictions will last two weeks and will primarily affect people living in densely populated, low-income neighborhoods. pic.twitter.com/VK2ofN148S
– AFP news agency (@AFP) September 21, 2020
He asked for the help of the army.
As a sign of the seriousness of the situation, Pedro Sánchez and Díaz Ayuso met at noon at the regional government headquarters to coordinate their actions against the pandemic.
Diagh Aguso asked the army for help to combat the increase of the coronavirus in the Spanish capital and its surroundings.
“We need help from the army to disinfect … and strengthen the local police and police services,” he told reporters after meeting Pedro Sánchez.
He also called for the reopening of temporary hospitals in the capital, some three months after they were dissolved as Spain emerged from a severe lockdown that reduced the number of infections.
At the height of the first wave of the epidemic in March and April, Spain deployed thousands of troops to help in the fight against the coronavirus.
Spain exceeded 30,000 deaths and 600,000 confirmed cases of the new coronavirus last week.
The country has been registering more than 10,000 new cases in a 24-hour period, having even recorded a daily record of more than 14,000.
Source: ΑΠΕ-ΜΠΕ
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