Battle to keep flare-ups under control

Daily figures back to over 1,000 - although hospital admissions and death rates are far from the pandemic's peak in March and April

REGIONAL health authorities throughout Spain are struggling to keep the over 400 flareups reported throughout the country under control.

Increasing tracking and tracing, added to more testing, has seen the number of positive test results per day now surpass the 1,000 mark - on Wednesday, Spain reported the highest daily number of new coronavirus infections in almost three months, with 1,153

Health minister Salvador Illa reported yesterday (Thursday) that since the state of emergency ended on June 21, there have been 527 flare-ups reported throughout the country - of which 412 are still 'active'. He went on to say that of 60% of the 4,870 new cases reported in this period are concentrated in the Catalan and Aragón regions.

The fact that less new patients have required hospitalisation is also put down to the 'younger' average age of those recently infected. During the pandemic peak in March and April, the average age of those contracting the virus was of 63 - a figure that has now dropped to 40-45.

The majority of flare-ups are a result of family gathering and leisure activities (mainly nightclub and bar socialising), while a quarter of the new cases originated at places of employment.

Sr Illa underlined that 70% of the flare-ups are very small (less than 10 cases), which allows them to be quickly placed under control by isolated those infected and their contacts.

Large clusters however are more concerning and those in Zaragoza, Lérida and Barcelona are still a major concern.

However, on Wednesday, Catalan regional health authorities began lifting the restrictions imposed several weeks ago in the Segriá area (Lérida) and certain establishments in the Barcelona metropolitan area have been allowed to reopen.

The current contagion rate on a national level has reached 100,000 residents in the past 14 days, however Sr Illa has again insisted there are 'huge difference' between the rates reported in different regions.

Flare-ups have this week affected several football teams including the notorious case of Fuenlabrada FC on their last game visit to La Coruña.

Three more professional cyclists have been withdrawn from the Vuelta a Burgos after coming into contact with a person who later tested positive for coronavirus.

UAE Team Emirates announced that their Colombian trio of Sebastian Molano, Cristian Munoz and Camilo Ardila would not start the second stage from Castrojeriz to Villadiego after being in contact with someone outside the race on Saturday who subsequently tested positive.

All three riders had returned two negative tests in the days prior to the race, which started on Tuesday.