Spain’s COVID-19 cases increase, more variants found

OVIEDO, Spain

Spain confirmed 14,515 new coronavirus infections Thursday, as the Health Minister reported a growing number of variants.

Carolina Darias said Spain detected seven cases of variants found in South Africa, three from Brazil and the UK version is now responsible for 20% of new infections.

To avoid further spread of the variants, Spain will make all arrivals from Brazil and South Africa quarantine for 10 days from Monday, even if they test negative.

“It doesn’t make much sense to do the same for the UK as the variant is already circulating widely,” said chief epidemiologist Fernando Simon.

As travel is restricted within much of the country, the dominance of the variant first discovered in the UK is much higher in some regions than others.

The northern region of Asturias said the more contagious strain is making up 67% of new infections, while Mallorca reports it is responsible for 40% of cases. Other regions are finding it is the cause of less than 5% of infections.

Thursday saw more than 4,000 additional cases than Wednesday, the first blip in the nation’s declining trend.

At the same time, cases are down more than 3,000 compared to last Thursday, but the week-on-week decline is not as fast as during previous days this week.

Experts warn that Spain cannot afford a news spike in cases with 35% of all intensive care units still occupied by COVID-19 patients.

Infections remain high, but decreasing, with another 388 reported deaths Thursday. In the last two weeks, nearly 6,000 deaths were reported.

Meanwhile, the vaccination program continues to move forward. More than 2.78 million jabs have been administered with 1.14 million people having received two doses.