Spain copes with lockdown as cases continue to surge

OVIEDO, Spain

Spain is dealing with its first working-day lockdown this Monday as the coronavirus case number surges by around 1,000 in a day to 8,744.

The latest figures indicate that 3,200 people are under treatment in hospitals, with 410 in intensive care units, while 300 died due to the virus known as COVID-19.

Approximately 40% of the people with confirmed cases have been hospitalized.

Most Spaniards are under quarantine-like conditions. All leisure activities on the streets have become illegal and non-essential shops closed.

Still, cities like Madrid and Barcelona saw crowded public transport, with trains and metros full of people during rush hour going to work.

“We’re aware that there’s been a certain sensation of crowds in public transport… Technical and operational problems will occur, they are inevitable,” said María Jose Rallo of Spain’s Transport Ministry in a televised press conference Monday morning, adding they will try to fix the problems.

The Spanish health authorities will now only test people for coronavirus if they have an acute respiratory infection and either is in the hospital or need to be. There are exceptions to this, such as healthcare workers, but it means the number of cases is significantly higher than those officially confirmed.

Experts predict that the region of Madrid, home to half the country’s cases, could expect to see a rising number of cases until March 26, but more people being cured than infected by April 15.

On Monday, Isabel Diaz Ayuso, the president of the Madrid region tested positive for coronavirus. The wife of Spanish prime minister, two cabinet ministers and several other high-profile politicians have also been confirmed to have contracted the virus.

Spain’s economy has also been grappling with the country’s paralysis. The IBEX 35 stock indicator had plunged by another 9% by midday Monday.

Besides the obvious hits to the tourism and service sectors, some industrial factories have also announced they will paralyze activity. This is the case with Volkswagen in Navarra or Michelin nation-wide.

During Monday’s televised press conference, the chief of the defense staff also announced the Spanish military’s first major seizure of surgical masks in Spain, which were confiscated and brought to Madrid.

On Monday, Spain also began testing two new medications hoping that they will break the chain of transmission.

The drugs, originally for HIV, malaria and arthritis, aim to reduce the viral load and therefore reduce peoples’ chances of spreading the virus. In around three weeks, the first results of the trial are expected to be ready.

COVID-19 emerged in Wuhan, China last December, and has so far spread to at least 146 countries and territories, and the World Health Organization declared the outbreak a pandemic.

According to Worldometer, a website that compiles new case numbers, out of roughly 173,000 confirmed cases, the death toll is over 6,600, while more than 77,500 of them have recovered.

The current number of active cases is over 88,500, with 93% in mild, and 7% in critical condition.