Spain registered over 23,000 new Covid-19 infections over the weekend to top western Europe’s total coronavirus case count. Citizens of Madrid, however, appeared to ignore their government’s toughened restrictions.
The country’s health ministry announced a new spike in Covid cases on Monday with 23,480 new infections added over the weekend, bringing Spain’s total to over 800,000 to date. The latest cases come just as residents of Madrid were spotted roaming around the city despite tough restrictions announced by the Spanish government on Friday.
The new rules include an 11pm curfew for bars and restaurants, and limit groups to just six people. They also permit only essential travel for work, school, health, or shopping. Some 300 municipal police officers were deployed at 60 checkpoints in Madrid over the weekend to enforce the new measures.
While Madrid re-emerged as Europe’s worst Covid-19 hotspot, with an average of 850 cases per 100,000, according to the World Health Organization, some social media users posted pictures of long queues of people outside the city’s restaurants.
