Catalonia overtakes Madrid to become Spain’s region with highest number of new Covid-19 cases

Catalonia is reported to have overtaken Madrid, to become the region with the most number of new Coronavirus (Covid-19) cases. Generalitat, the government of Catalonia, said it also noted an increase in the number of patients hospitalised and in intensive care units (ICU).

According to Spain’s Ministry of Health, Catalonia registered 1,221 new cases on Monday, compared to 873 in Madrid. Yesterday, on Tuesday, Catalonia recorded 1,939 new cases, compared to 1,777 in Madrid. Although Catalonia still has relatively fewer cases in total than Madrid, the acceleration of new cases is worrying.

“The acceleration seen in the number of new cases in the last couple of days is particularly explosive,” confirmed José María Martín Moreno, Professor of Medicine and Public Health at the University of Valencia. Catalonia’s health authorities, which are already on the brink of collapse, are concerned about the lack of protective equipment to cope with the accelerating number of serious Covid-19 cases requiring hospitalisation and ICU treatment.

Fernando Simón, Director of the Spanish Coordinating Centre for Health Alerts and Emergencies at the Ministry of Health, says he hopes that Spain will reach its peak in the next few days and that the number of new cases start to decline, thanks to the lockdown. Spain’s total number of Covid-19 cases currently hover around 42,058 and the number of deaths from the disease is fast approaching 3,000.