Spain

[MRex]

Their number of cases keep on rising, It looks really concerning now. Have they actually lost control of the outbreaks, as they keep putting bigger areas into lockdown again, or is it genuinely localised? Will UK and other European countries close borders with them soon like France has?

Has France closed the border with them?. I know someone that's driven down today she hasn't said anything.

I think they are doing loads more testing. But I think it is concerning.

Ah, you're right, I didn't mean to mislead as I'd misheard. Jean Castex had said that it was under consideration / not being ruled out / however that's translated.

Right so she may get there but maybe not get back. That is a worry.

I think they will close the borders soon if it gets much worse.

Probably would just mean quarantining when she gets back, no?

The good thing so far is that it seems like the average infected person now is younger, so deaths are actually very very low (2-3 day), so I got hope that even if there are more infections, it doesn't get too bad in terms of hospitalisations or deaths ...

These are localised outbreaks, there are around 200 in the country (some small). Some areas, such as Barcelona very affected, other areas are absolutely fine.

I don't think there is any lockdown per se. In Barcelona, the local government has advised not to leave the house, but it is just advice, people can still do it if they want to.

@piscis that's good in the short-term but the problem is they then take it home and spread it to parents and grandparents. That's been the pattern in the US but then they've just been running with it. Spain will, I think, try to bring this back under control.

Looks like wearing masks is not working

To me it looks like wearing a mask is helping. It's one part of a whole range of measures designed to slow spread, not a universal bloody panacea.

@HairyFloppins

Has France closed the border with them?. I know someone that's driven down today she hasn't said anything.

I think they are doing loads more testing. But I think it is concerning.

They are actually not doing more testing. Their testing rate has been quite consistently around the 40-45k/day number for the past couple of weeks. There are just more infected people.

Due to go in 2 weeks time to visit family. Have been following case roses on worldometer, just wondering why these are including positive antibody tests in with their confirmed new cases figure?? Seems a strange thing to do in terms of painting an accurate picture of the current situation?

I don't think they're new cases. I'm sure I saw a note on the WHO figures a while ago explaining that they were adding people whose antibody tests showed they'd had covid and that the cases would be higher for a while till they had been sorted out.

@manicinsomniac
I am not sure about the antibodies number, if they are adding something like that or not to the total number, but if that’s the case, it has minimal impact and is irrelevant. There is an increase in cases, there is no doubt, we are talking about more than 200 localised outbreaks, where they know where the outbreak originated (a boat party, a nightclub...and so on), the goverment is actually now considering if Spain is heading for the scond wave and France is deciding today if it closes its borders to Spain. Nothing to do with antibodies results.

These are outbreaks and they are localised, so whereas some areas are in a pretty bad situation, some others are non affected. As long as the track and trace works, it can hopefully be contained.

I saw interested to see Scotland has stopped quarantining from there in the last few days, given NS was trying to be cautious. mind you her approach seems pretty contradictory at times

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-53476508

It's not looking good and extremely incompatible with the tourist trade ☹️

Latest figure 2,615 cases www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/spain/

There are 281 outbreaks across Spain, but 70% of these have less than 10 cases, so are isolated to a specific group, building, factory etc. The real problem areas are Barcelona and Aragon- they’ve had to revert to phase 2. Madrid is also bringing back restrictions on gatherings on terraces etc to keep nightlife under control. That said, many areas of Spain still have infection per 100,000 rates much lower than the UK.

@BellaVida - The UK similarly had ~250 outbreaks in the last week (I can't be bothered to check the report for the exact number) with several areas getting enhanced testing and restrictions. Many areas of the UK are also

Supposed to be going to Mallorca on the 1st. We booked in September and have ummed and arrhed about it all through May and most of June. We finally commited and paid the balance about 3 weeks ago Now very worried.

Worldometer has a note saying the tests include antibody tests, so depending on the relative proportions the figures may represent historic infections.

the UK had 243 acute respiratory infection outbreaks in the most recent week, 176 of those were associated with the new coronavirus (111 care home, 14 hospital, 11 educational setting, 24 work place & 16 "others").

Norway have reintroduced a (ten day) quarantine on arrivals from Spain "Norway will re-impose a 10-day quarantine requirement for people arriving from Spain from tomorrow after a surge in coronavirus cases there, while it will ease restrictions on people coming from more counties of Sweden, the government said today.

The latest data from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) showed Covid-19 infections in Spain had risen to 30.9 per 100,000 inhabitants."

Off to Menorca tomorrow so keeping an eye on this. I’m really hoping they won’t ditch the air bridge for the whole of Spain and look at localities where cases are high. Reading today this may be the case. Would be frustrating to quarantine from the islands where cases are still low.

@cathyandclare
But surely a government is not going to be talking about a possible second wave based on any antibodies test results (Spanish news today: the Health Department recognises that Spain could be suffering a second wave of covid-19) . The outbreaks are more each day and in the Barcelona and Aragon area there is community transmission. In those areas the number of cases are higher each day.
Just reading the latest news now, Cataluna has 1,343 positives in the last 24 hours and what is more worrying, 13 deaths (it has been one digit number and normally under 5 for the whole of Spain for weeks and now 13 only in Cataluna).

Doesn’t sound good, guess that will be another set of flights I will have to cancel

Norway has begun quarantine for those returning from Spain and Germany ahs had positive cases in returning visitors from Mallorca:

www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jul/24/europe-warns-of-need-for-vigilance-as-covid-19-cases-rise-sharply

I am due to go to Costa del Sol 8 August so watching with interest.

No wonder Portugal is so cross really.