Madrid region orders partial lockdown in poorer, COVID-hit areas

The gap between poorer and richer areas is at the heart of a tense debate in Spain over how to curb an increase in new coronavirus cases. Restrictions will affect Vallecas, a southern district with a lower average income and higher immigrant population, which has one of the highest infection rates in Madrid.

The regional government of the Spanish capital Madrid ordered a lockdown from Monday in some of the poorer areas of the city and its outskirts that are home to about 850,000 people, after a surge in coronavirus infections there. Regional leader Isabel Diaz Ayuso said on Friday movement between and within areas in six badly affected districts would be restricted, but people would not be stopped from going to work in the hardest-hit region in Spain.

At over 620,000, Spain has had the highest number of coronavirus cases in Western Europe. Residents in Madrid's poorer districts said earlier on Friday they felt abandoned, stigmatised and feared new restrictions would deprive them of income.

Ayuso, who attracted criticism for saying this week that "the way of life of immigrants" was partly to blame for the surge in cases, said the areas had been picked because contagion levels there exceeded 1,000 per 100,000 people. "We need to avoid lockdown, we need to avoid economic disaster," Ayuso told a news conference. "We don't think it's time to restrict all citizens, but rather to apply measures in areas we have perfectly identified."

Access to parks and public areas will be restricted, gatherings will be limited to six people and commercial establishments will have to close by 10 p.m. in the areas. The gap between poorer and richer areas is at the heart of a tense debate in Spain over how to curb an increase in new coronavirus cases.

Restrictions will affect Vallecas, a southern district with a lower average income and higher immigrant population, which has one of the highest infection rates in Madrid. It is almost six times higher than in Chamberi, one of the wealthier, northern districts. The health system "is more paralysed here, they have us out here waiting, crowded, queues everywhere," retiree Mari Paz Gonzalez said. "We are abandoned... They left us in the hands of God."

"As soon as you cross that bridge things change. As soon as you cross it the neighbourhood changes," retiree Carmen Ibarra said, as she walked through Vallecas. More than 30,000 people have been killed by COVID19 in Spain.

The inequality gap and its correlation to coronavirus infection rates have also become a hot political issue in Barcelona, the second-largest city.