40% of COVID-19 outbreaks in Spain originate from family reunions

OVER 100 COVID-19 outbreaks have been recorded in Spain since the beginning of Spain’s de-escalation phase.

Coronavirus has caused recent outbreaks in almost all of Spain. The most numerous in Lleida with some 800 people testing positive in several outbreaks, followed by Huesca (369 cases), Lugo (165) and Malaga (109).

With the exception of La Rioja, Asturias, Ceuta and Melilla, the rest of the communities have detected one or more new outbreaks in recent weeks.

According to Health Minister Salvador Illa, Spain has 118 active coronavirus outbreaks.

However, exact details of where the active outbreaks are or how many positive cases each is not clear.

The transparency on the situation of the virus is in the hands of each autonomy, and very few are publishing these data. With the exception of Andalucia, none do it systematically and constantly.

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Since the de-escalation began on May 11, the communities have reported at least 95 new outbreaks, 36 of which were caused by a family gathering, including a wedding in Tudela, a celebration of San Juan in a neighbourhood of Castellon and a meal with friends in Alcanar (Tarragona).

The Ministry of Health has defined an outbreak as ‘any cluster of three or more confirmed or probable cases with active infection in which an epidemiological link has been established.’ An outbreak ceases to be active when 14 days pass since the last positive.

“Many infections occur within the family, but it is difficult to know where the first person who brings the virus to his or her family members is infected,” says Jesus Molina Cabrillana, a member of the Spanish Society of Preventive Medicine, Public Health and Hygiene (Sempsph).

“We almost never know the origin of the patient zero,” he said.

There are 19 outbreaks in Andalucia, 10 of them in Granada. Half of the positive cases (109) are due to the single outbreak recorded in the Red Cross shelter in Malaga.

The Junta, one of the few regional governments that reports in a daily bulletin on the state of recent outbreaks of COVID-19, assures the outbreak is under control after conducting contact-tracing of the first infected.