Alex Trelinski
SPAIN has named Romanian arrivals as bringing in the highest number of detected COVID-19 cases in the last month.
Not far behind is the United Kingdom.
The figures have been compiled by experts working for the Ministry of Health’s Centre for the Coordination of Health Alerts and Emergencies(CCAES).
Spain’s high number of fully-vaccinated people(80%) and a low infection rate(below 40 cases per 100,000 people) are amongst the best figures in the world.
The large number of inoculations is helping to reduce the impact of imported cases.
The CCAES statistics show that inevitably countries with high coronavirus positivity rates are the biggest importers.
Top of the list in the last four weeks are arrivals from Romania with 196 detected positive cases.
Romania has the highest cumulative incidence figure in Europe, over 20 times higher than Spain with 850 cases per 100,000 residents.
UK arrivals logged in 163 positive cases from a country that is not far behind Romania, with 750 cases per 100,000 people.
UK infection figures are over 17 times more than those in Spain, which may be down towards a lax attitude to indoor mask wearing, which is mandatory in Spain.
A consequence of the UK high rates is that popular tourist areas in Spain appear to be suffering more coronavirus contagions.
There is no official match-up but recent health statistic show that rates in Benidorm were far higher than for other more populous parts of the Valencian Community.
British arrivals on the Costa Blanca have risen in recent weeks due to relaxed UK rules over COVID-testing.
The CCAES report says there have been significant variations in recent months as to which countries have imported the most cases.
A high-water mark occurred in July with 450 cases coming in from Portugal, fuelled mainly by the Delta COVID-variant.
Image Credit: Cordon Press
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