Andalucía, Murcia, Castilla-La Mancha and Castilla y León close borders

*UPDATE: Cataluña has also announced border closure for the next 15 days.

Ten autonomous communities in Spain have now closed their frontiers to tackle rising COVID-19 cases.

Four of Spain’s 17 regions will soon close territorial borders following the entrance of Spain’s second state of alarm last Sunday.

The border closures are strategically timed to avoid movement between regions during the upcoming Todos los Santos bank holiday.

The regions are: Andalucía in the south, Murcia in the southeast, and central Castilla-La Mancha and Castilla y León.

Madrid has announced it will also close borders – but only for a question of ‘days’ over the long weekend.

It comes after Aragón, Asturias and the Basque Country closed their borders on Monday, and Navarra and La Rioja closed frontiers last weekend.

It means that 57% of Spain’s population – 27 million people – may not leave their autonomous community.

Residents in Murcia are further prohibited from leaving whichever of the region’s 45 municipalities they live in – a similar move to the Basque Country.

Andalucian provinces of Sevilla, Jaen and Granada also have closed borders, as well as municipal borders in those regions.

The Valencian Community is also expected to close either its borders, or only borders of affected municipalities, in the next few days.

Cataluña has said it will announce its deciison on border closures on Thursday.

It comes after France and Germany have announced their second nationwide lockdowns – read more here.

Photo source.