Pandemic in Spain 'is under control now', say health authorities

THE Covid-19 pandemic is 'practically under control' now in Spain, according to head of Health Alerts and Emergencies Coordination Centre Fernando Simón.

Spanish authorities, through lockdown procedures, have managed to contain the SARS-CoV-2 Coronavirus and, although it will be a while before the country is completely free from the condition it causes, numbers are now dramatically reduced.

Simón, however, warns that even though the pandemic is under control, Spain could still be at risk from imported cases once it reopens its borders on July 1.

Figures from the previous 24 hours were revealed on Saturday, and showed that 177 people had been diagnosed with Covid-19 in that time, with a further 249 cases where symptoms had started seven days earlier.

During the week of May 29 to June 4, GPs reported 32,954 patients as having one or more 'suspect' symptom and hospital staff reported 24,418, but this does not mean they are probable cases since the signs include dry cough, breathing trouble and fever, each of which could have literally hundreds of potential causes.

Confirmed cases of Covid-19 in people being monitored due to having been in close contact with diagnosed patients totalled 94 during the week of May 25 to 31.

“All these data show we currently have an excellent capacity for detecting Coronavirus cases,” Simón stated.

Last week alone, a total of 314,737 polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests were carried out nationwide – overall, around 2.5 million of these have been conducted since the pandemic was first recognised as having reached Spain – and, even though the number of cases is falling all the time, the same frequency and number of tests are being carried out on anyone who could be at risk or who shows symptoms consistent with Covid-19.

Simón stresses that the public should not get complacent, and that even though the situation is fully contained at present, Spain's next task will be protecting itself from possible cases in visitors from overseas.

Concerning the sudden spike in diagnoses in Portugal in the last few days, Simón says he is slightly shocked at the news, given the 'fairly good progress' seen in Spain's neighbouring country throughout the pandemic, but stresses that Portuguese tourists in Spain 'do not represent a risk any greater' than that of holidaymakers from other European countries.

The above photograph shows Barcelona's Creucoberta shopping precinct earlier in the week when the city was still on 'Phase 1'.