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| - Spain's central government was meeting regional authorities Wednesday to get their green light over plans to toughen restrictions in Madrid, where the virus is spreading like wildfire. The talks, which began in the late afternoon, came the day after the government reached agreement with Madrid's regional chiefs, ending a standoff over their management of the health crisis. Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez's government has been pushing for the region's rightwing administration to extend its partial lockdown, which only affects certain districts, to cover the entire city and the surrounding areas. Spain is currently struggling with the highest number of new cases within the EU with a rate of around 300 per 100,000 inhabitants -- but in the Madrid region, the rate currently stands at more than 780 per 100,000. Under terms of a deal reached Tuesday night, Madrid has agreed to impose new restrictions on mobility and social contacts by limiting the opening hours and seating capacity of bars and restaurants, Health Minister Salvador Illa said, without giving further details. Such restrictions will apply only in areas with more than 100,000 residents that fulfil three conditions: First, counting more than 500 cases per 100,000 inhabitants over the previous 14 days; second, where 35 percent or more of intensive care beds are occupied by Covid-19 patients, and third, where at least 10 percent of PCR tests come back positive. Madrid's leaders have insisted such restrictions be applied to all areas of Spain that meet the same criteria, with the regions meeting to approve the measures on Wednesday. In reality, Madrid is the only region with areas that currently meet all three criteria -- including parts of the capital, which has three million residents. "I hope there will be an agreement because all decisions taken in the coming weeks will be dependent on this," Madrid's deputy chief Ignacio Aguado said earlier. Details of the new restrictions must then be laid out by the authorities in the greater Madrid region, which is home to 6.6 million people. Media reports suggested the new restrictions would be in line with those currently in force in several badly hit areas in and around the capital, where people cannot leave their neighbourhood except to go to work or school or for medical reasons. Residents are not confined to their homes and can circulate freely within their own area although parks are closed and bars and restaurants have to operate with limited opening hours and seating capacity. Spain is currently fighting a second wave of the virus, which has now killed more than 31,000 people and infected close to 760,000 in what is the highest infection rate within the European Union. avl-mg/hmw/gd
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