‘Thanks for the Chaos’: Madrid Returns to Lockdown

A police officer waits to inspect documents at a checkpoint during a partial lockdown, amid the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Madrid, Spain, on Oct. 2, 2020. Javier Barbancho/Reuters

MADRID—Some 4.8 million Madrid residents will be barred from leaving the area from Friday evening, making it the first European capital back into lockdown due to surging coronavirus cases.

Restaurants and bars in the Spanish capital and nine satellite towns will shut early and slash capacity by half in what has again become Europe’s worst infection hotspot.