Spain may step up restrictions due to virus surge

Spain is reporting 30,579 new coronavirus infections and 241 confirmed deaths following a 4-day data reporting hiatus over an extended holiday, with the country's Health Minister saying that measures ill have to be strengthened "in some cases ".

Salvador Illa said Monday that despite distortions for slower reporting during the New Year and the weekend, Monday's figures confirm a sharp contagion trend that is also being felt in new hospitalizations, calling for "appropriate measures."

Spain has recorded nearly 2 million infections and more than 51,000 deaths for COVID-19 since the onset of the pandemic.

Fearing that the country will follow the sharp increase that other European nations are seeing, authorities in several Spanish regions have been recently tightening restrictions on movement, business activity and social gatherings.

Northeastern Catalonia, home to 6.6 million, will ban all but essential travel out of its municipalities during 10 days starting on Thursday, closing shopping centers and allowing only sales of essential goods on weekends. These are in addition to existing restrictions on the activities of bars and restaurants, as well as on cultural events.

More restrictions have also spread to other areas in the south of the country, around the British overseas territory of Gibraltar, where authorities are trying to confirm if a spike in cases could be related to a new coronavirus variant  first identified in the U.K.

Illa said that, barring more logistical problems, authorities are confident that vaccination levels will reach "cruising speed" by next week, once the holiday period is over. Spain has received nearly 720,000 vaccine doses from Pfizer and BioNTech and has so far administered just over 80,000.