The Catalan health ministry has reported a possible resurgence of coronavirus in the health region of Lleida, in the west of Catalonia. The region's seven-day rolling average of new cases, a key measure used to follow the state of the epidemic, has almost quadrupled in two weeks. In fact, according to Catalan government spokesperson Meritxell Budó, the figure has increased from 12.1 cases to 42.7 per 100,000 inhabitants.
For this reason, the Catalan ministry has decided that the region of Lleida will continue, one more week, in Phase 1 of the Spanish state's four-phase plan. "We want to check if this trend will carry on rising or if it can be controlled and has already been fully identified", explained the Catalan health minister, Alba Vergés.
Health administrator Marc Ramentol said that the rise in Lleida consists largely of mild and asymptomatic cases. Speaking to radio station RAC1, he explained that the transmission chains involved have been active for weeks, but with the increase in diagnostic capacity they have now been able to be detected. Ramentol added that if it were a serious situation, other measures would have been taken beyond maintaining Phase 1, recalling that all de-escalation measures are subject to review. The four-phase process envisages the re-tightening of lockdown measures in cases where it may be necessary.
What does the Catalan health ministry say?
According to the health service, from May 7th to 13th, 45 new positive results for coronavirus were confirmed in Lleida region, but from May 14th to 21st, 142 new cases were detected. There are cases from several different environments, affecting senior citizens' residences, healthcare personnel, agri-food companies, and even a 20-person birthday party, in which four of those present had the virus prior to the celebration. The party ended with all 20 guests infected with coronavirus.
Lleida health region: yellow bars = daily new cases of Covid-19; blue line = 7-day rolling average of new cases
Broadcaster TV3, quoting the Catalan health ministry, reports that the rise in cases in Lleida has occurred because of the increased number of PCR tests being carried out focused on workplaces. The increase in positives cases is thought to be concentrated in different food industry firms.
For now, there are 24 people known to have been admitted to hospital as a result of the new cases. Among these are eight patients in the ICU at Lleida's Hospital Arnau de Vilanova.