Police in Barcelona have closed access to a large area of the city’s beaches due to excess sunbathing people who ignored the authorities’ urge to stay home amid a resurgence of the coronavirus.
BARCELONA, Spain – Barcelona police closed access to a large area of the city’s beaches on Saturday after many bathers ignored the authorities’ request to stay home amid a new wave of growing coronavirus infections.
Police blocked more people from entering the beach and used loudspeakers to recommend that crowds already in the arena disperse because they were too close and could increase the risk of contagion.
Barcelona and other areas of the Catalonia region of northeast Spain have experienced the largest outbreaks in the country since the European country ended a strict three-month national blockade that successfully curbed a wild outbreak that has claimed more than 28,400 lives.
Catalan health authorities reported more than 1,200 new daily cases on Saturday.
The new outbreaks have forced regional officials to ban meetings of more than 10 people in the city, an edict that went into effect on Saturday. They also strongly recommended that residents of Barcelona and neighboring municipalities only leave their homes to work or run the necessary errands.
The Spanish Health Minister, Salvador Illa, urged the residents of Barcelona to follow the guidelines issued by the Catalan regional authorities.
The mandatory use of face masks is rapidly spreading throughout Spain as officials grapple with more than 180 active outbreaks, most of them in Catalonia and the neighboring region of Aragon.
Overall, Europe has seen more than 199,000 deaths from the virus, according to a count by Johns Hopkins University. Experts say the real cost is that the pandemic is even greater than that, due to limited evidence and other reasons.
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