Charlie Smith
SOME 391 people have tested positive for COVID-19 in Spain in the last 24 hours.
It is the highest daily number of new cases since May 22 when there were 446.
This means it is also the worst figure since the state of alarm ended on June 21 and the country entered a ‘new normality’.
A total of four coronavirus-related fatalities have also been reported in the last 24 hours, taking Spain’s total death toll to 28,413.
Coronavirus has been spreading across Spain since June 15 when the number of daily cases reported was just 40.
The first two weeks of July have been marked by the return of tourism, as well as an increase in the number of virus outbreaks.
Some 120 of these flare-ups were described as ‘active’ this week, with two of the largest located in Aragon and Catalunya.
These regions account for two thirds of all the new infections, according to the Ministry of Health’s PCR test data.
In the northern region of Aragon, some 160 new cases have been reported, while there were 91 in Catalunya.
Most of Aragon’s cases are asymptomatic and have been detected after the region’s track and trace systems were improved.
This is confirmed by some 105 cases in the region for which the onset of symptoms was during the last week.
Community transmission has made the situation in Catalunya more serious, while its own stats do not match those of the Spanish Government, thus adding to the confusion.
Health chiefs in the northeastern region said some 471 people have reported the onset of COVID-19 symptoms in the last seven days.
Today they also reported 938 new cases of the virus in Catalunya, compared the Ministry of Health’s 91.
The Ministry today raised Spain’s total caseload to 257,494, an increase of 875 on yesterday.
This overnight increase appears to be the worst since early May before the country’s four-phase coronavirus lockdown exit plan came into force.
However government scientists have highlighted Spain’s ‘improved testing infrastructure’ as the reason behind the ‘many more cases’ being detected.
They said that 70% of the new cases reported in the last 24 hours were from asymptomatic people.
In total some 919 new positives have been recorded in the last seven days, a measure widely regarded as the ‘most reliable’.
It comes as 12 out of Spain’s 17 autonomous communities have imposed or are imposing the obligatory usage of masks.
In Andalucia, where face coverings were made mandatory as of today, a total of 32 new COVID-19 cases have been reported in the last 24 hours.
