Authorities in Spain insist the new coronavirus variant is not to blame for the resurgence of cases and that the country can avoid a full lockdown even as its hospitals fill up.

Authorities in northeastern Spain on Saturday ordered the lockdown of a county around the city of Lleida due to worrying outbreaks of the COVID-19 virus.

Spain will reopen its borders to tourists in July and its top soccer division will kick off again in June, the Prime Minister said on Saturday, as one of the world's strictest coronavirus lockdowns starts to ease.

A Kingston, Ont., couple who were on a trip to Spain when the novel coronavirus pandemic hit, is home and free of COVID-19 symptoms.

Facing intense surges in the need for hospital ICU beds, European nations are on a building and hiring spree, throwing together makeshift hospitals and shipping coronavirus patients out of overwhelmed cities via high-speed trains and military jets.