Madrid's regional government chief requested the army's help on Monday in fighting the coronavirus surge in the Spanish capital where local authorities had ordered a partial lockdown in some districts.

Residents in the southern district of Vallecas, one of the areas where a partial lockdown took effect on Monday, were upset but resigned to the curbs as police stopped cars getting in and out of the neighbourhood.

Madrid authorities said they had chosen those areas because COVID-19 transmission levels there exceeded 1,000 per 100,000 people.