BARS and restaurants in Barcelona are on the brink of a new lockdown as the city battles a sudden coronavirus spike.

Spain saw a massive surge of over 4,600 new cases over the weekend, its highest count since April.

On Friday, some four million people, including in Barcelona, were advised to leave their home only for essential trips.

Bars and restaurants remained open but at a 50 percent capacity inside and with a two metre (6.5 foot) distance between tables outside.

Late night bars and discos could now be forced to close throughout Catalonia in a drastic measure designed to stop the spread of the virus.

Any closure would affect popular holiday resorts on the Costa Brava and Costa Dorada including Lloret de Mar and Salou.

Businesses on the Punta Ballena strip were suddenly shut down on Wednesday night, leaving young Brit holidaymakers reeling.

That was a response to shocking scenes of bladdered revellers jumping on cars and vomiting in the streets.

Late-night pubs and nightclubs were closed in Gandia near Valencia on Friday following the rise of cases among youngsters.

Health chiefs in Murcia told late-night bar owners that they could only serve customers outside in terraces where social distancing could be guaranteed.

Officials have already ramped up restrictive measures which have seen the city edge towards a local lockdown.

Thousands of people were reportedly turned away from beaches in Barcelona.

Up until now the maximum number of sun seekers allowed on the sand of the area's ten beaches was 38,000.

Town hall chiefs have now decided to cut the top figure to 32,000 for at least the next two weeks.

Last weekend, five beaches, including La Barceloneta, had to be closed at times because they were full up.

Authorities decided not to close any of the beaches as this would only encourage a "mass exodus" from one closed beach to any that remained open.

Eloi Badia, Barcelona’s Councillor for Climate Emergency, said: “We have reached the conclusion that we need to reduce the amount of people we allowed on beaches at any one time.

“We have a system that enables us to tighten or relax controls and we believe it’s appropriate when it comes to reducing contagion.”

Badia also urged tourists and locals to spend less time on the beach and avoid peak times, generally Friday and weekends between 4pm and 8pm.

Meritxell Budo, spokesman for the Catalan government called the Generalitat, said at the time: “We ask citizens not to leave home unless it’s strictly necessary.

“We also urge people not to travel to second homes this weekend.

“We are being obliged to take this step backwards.

"We urge people to demonstrate maximum awareness and put an end to the relaxation we have been seeing in the last few weeks.”

On Monday Barcelona overtook the city of Lleida as the municipality with most new Covid-19 cases in the past seven days. 

Spain was one of Europe's hardest-hit countries by Covid-19, the disease caused by the virus, with more than 28,000 deaths.

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