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Residents In Barcelona Told To Stay Indoors Unless 'Strictly Necessary'

Residents In Barcelona Told To Stay Indoors Unless 'Strictly Necessary'

The city has seen a surge in coronavirus cases

Claire Reid

Claire Reid

Residents in Barcelona have been urged to stay inside after seeing a surge in new cases of coronavirus.

Around five million people in the city have been told to stay indoors unless 'strictly necessary'.

Meritxell Budo, spokesman for the Catalan government called the Generalitat, said: "We ask citizens not to leave home unless it's strictly necessary.

"We also urge people not to travel to second homes this weekend.

PA

"We are being obliged to take this step backwards. We urge people to demonstrate maximum awareness and put an end to the relaxation we have been seeing in the last few weeks."

It is not yet clear if the government will enforce stricter lockdown conditions if residents choose to ignore the advice.

According to reports, gyms, theatres and cinemas in the affected areas will be told to shut.

Figures show that new cases have jumped this week - from 150 last week, to more than 500.

Over the past few weeks, other areas in Spain have been forced to reintroduce lockdown measures after seeing a rise in cases.

The news comes just days after bars in the main party strip of Magaluf were ordered to shut down until September.

Iago Negueruela, who is the Tourism Minister for the Balearic Islands, said that the Punta Ballena area would remain closed as a result of the bad behaviour shown by visitors to the Majorcan party town.

He said the country 'cannot tolerate' the antics of the party-goers.

PA

Negueruela said: "I think it's a sufficiently clear message to those practising the type of tourism of excess we don't want here, that they shouldn't come because those types of establishments are not going to be able to open.

"If those holidaymakers go to other areas, and if there are businesses that promote that type of clientele, they will also be closed and they will also be prohibited.

"We will not hesitate a single second when it comes to doing everything we need to, to guarantee the health security of our citizens and our economic reactivation.

"We are a safe destination. The vast majority of our citizens, business leaders and holidaymakers, who are making a great effort, do not deserve the sort of images we have seen over the past few days and they do not deserve those types of holidaymakers and those types of businessmen."

Featured Image Credit: PA

Topics: World News, Coronavirus