Via Reuters:
MADRID (Reuters) – Madrid’s regional government chief requested the army’s help on Monday to fight the coronavirus surge in and around the Spanish capital where local authorities have ordered a partial lockdown of some poorer areas, prompting protests during the weekend.
At the height of the first wave of the epidemic in March-April, Spain deployed thousands of troops to battle the outbreak and a recent spike in infections, peaking at over 10,000 per day, took cumulative cases above 640,000, the highest in Western Europe.
“We need help from the army for disinfection … and to strengthen local police and law enforcement,” Isabel Diaz Ayuso told a news briefing after meeting Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez in an attempt to reduce contagion in Spain’s worst-hit region.
She also requested that makeshift hospitals be set up again, about three months after they were decommissioned when Spain emerged from its strict lockdown having reduced contagion rates.