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Authorities ordered a new lockdown for 200,000 people in Lleida province of northeastern Spain on Saturday due to outbreaks of Covid-19 there, the first confinement order since the nation's state of emergency was lifted on June 21.

"We've decided to implement perimeter controls around Segrià (county) in response to data that confirm significant growth in the number of Covid-19 cases," Catalan regional president Quim Torra announced at a press conference.

The confinement started at midday Saturday and includes the provincial capital of Lleida. It will be enforced by 24 police checkpoints around the county's perimeter, preventing movement in and out, except for work or to care for people with special needs, two Catalan government spokesmen told CNN.