Spain’s Andalucia has far more cases of COVID-19 than being reported due to its below average testing numbers, union warns

ANDALUCIA may have 30% more coronavirus infections than those being counted by the health ministry due to its lower testing rate.

Trade union CC.OO claimed in a report this week that the southernmost region needs to carry out 338.1 more tests per 100,000 inhabitants to reach the national average.

As the most populous region, counting 8.4 million residents, it would need to perform 28,508 more tests by PCR to be in line with the other regions.

The report analysed the tests and results in the week October 3 to 9.

In that period, 96,348 PCR tests were carried out in Andalucia, representing a rate of 1,145.06 per 100,000 inhabitants, resulting in 7,608 diagnoses.

Of concern to the CC.OO, is that in that week, the region recorded the third highest caseload after Madrid and Catalunya, despite lagging behind the rest of the regions in terms of PCR testing.

“It endorses the idea that the spread of the virus in Andalucia is actually well above the Spanish average, and if more PCRs had been done, it would have had to have taken more restrictive measures,” the union said.

On average, regions are performing 1,483.87 PCRs per 100,000 inhabitants, compared to Andalucia’s 1,145.06.

If Andalucia had performed the average amount of tests, the CC.OO calculates it would have clocked 2,251 more cases during October 3 to 9.

“Speaking in percentage terms, per week, an extra 29.58% of possible infections are not diagnosed in Andalucia,” the report warned.

It adds that the southernmost region needs to carry out an extra 30,000 tests per week to reach the national average of 126,000.