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Madrid faces new lockdown, Europe cases rise

Europe's second wave of COVID-19 is now forcing one of its worst-hit countries, Spain, to put its capital back into lockdown.

Madrid is the continent's most severe coronavirus hotspot.

The city of over 3 million people is set to go into lockdown in the coming days after the region's leader reluctantly agreed Thursday (October 1) to obey a central government order to ban non-essential travel there.

Madrid had found itself caught in a fight between its national and local government.

It has at least 859 cases per 100,000 people, according to the World Health Organization.

Much of the continent is facing similar challenges.

Local lockdowns across the UK, for example, have been put in place.

England alone has seen a 61% increase in positive cases in its latest weekly data.

That's more than four times the number of cases recorded compared with the end of August.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has implored Brits to follow new, tighter rules.

But there has been some confusion over the restrictions - and frustration over a new Test and Trace system - which has fallen short of its targets once again.

In Italy -- also one of the worst hit countries -- Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte plans to ask parliament to extend the country's COVID-19 state of emergency to the end of January.

And France's new coronavirus cases increased by more than 10,000 for the first time in three days on Wednesday, while the number of people hospitalized with the disease rose by almost a hundred to a 10-week high.