Europe's worst infection hotspot Madrid heads for lockdown

FILE PHOTO: A National Police officer inspects documents of a woman wearing a protective face shield in a checkpoint outside the train station at the working-class neighbourhood of Orcasitas, which has been under partial lockdown, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Madrid, Spain, September 30, 2020. REUTERS/Sergio Perez/File Photo

MADRID (Reuters) - Madrid will become the first European capital to go back into lockdown in coming days after the region's leader reluctantly agreed on Thursday to obey a central government order to ban non-essential travel to and from the Spanish capital.

In order to fight a steep surge in COVID-19 cases, Madrid and nine nearby municipalities will see borders closed to outsiders for non-essential visits, with only travel for work, school, doctors' visits or shopping allowed. A curfew for bars and restaurants moved to 11 p.m. from 1 a.m.