THE COVID-19 patient in Sevilla is the first in Spain to not have travelled to or from an at risk country or had any contact with an infected individual.
The 62-year-old man is being held in isolation at the Virgen del Rocio hospital in the centre of the city.
Experts fear this case could mean that the pathogen has been circulating for days or even weeks throughout Spain by carriers who have shown no symptoms.
The other nine cases across Spain have all been ‘imported’ from Italy, the hardest hit country in Europe.
It comes after the government today raised the risk of infection on a local level from ‘low’ to ‘moderate’.