Spain tells millions stay home as EU meets on virus rescue plan

Four million residents of Spain’s second city Barcelona were told to stay at home Friday, as virus cases rise, while EU leaders met in Brussels seeking to rescue Europe’s economy from the ravages of the pandemic.

“We must take a step back to avoid returning in coming weeks to a total lockdown of the population,” Catalan regional government spokeswoman Meritxell Budo said.

Spain’s COVID-19 death toll of 28,400 is one of Europe’s worst and the country has identified more than 150 new virus clusters across the country.

Barcelona, one of Europe’s most visited cities, issued its plea as EU leaders met fand as India became the third country to record one million cases after the United States and Brazil.

The virus has now killed more than 590,000 people and infected over 13,800,000 as it continues to surge across the globe despite months of unprecedented lockdowns to stop its spread.

A growing number of countries and cities have been forced into reimposing restrictions, with Barcelona only the latest example.

India hit the million mark the day after Brazil’s number of virus cases topped two million — although the World Health Organization said Friday that Brazil’s contagion has “plateaued” with the rate of infection stabilising after 77,000 deaths. (AFP)

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