Lack Of Control Over Seasonal Workers Behind Coronavirus Outbreak In Spain’s Catalonia Region

By Eleisha Kennedy • 05 July 2020 • 10:45

Some seasonal workers in Lleida, in the Catalonian region of Spain, are forced to sleep rough as the area goes back into lockdown. CREDIT: Twitter

The coming and going of seasonal fruit pickers is thought to be behind the latest outbreak to Covid-19 in Catalonia, Spain.

After the Catalonian government ordered the region of Segrià, in the southwest of Lleida, home to 210,000 people, to go back into lockdown yesterday, most of the outbreaks have been traced to the arrival of seasonal workers to work in fruit picking, who are housed in unsanitary conditions and even in some cases outdoors.

The Catalan regional president, Quim Torra, had already warned of the potential dangers of the uncontrolled entry and exit of seasonal workers in Lleida a month ago, and on Saturday, the mayor of Lleida explained that 246 of these workers, mostly from Senegal, had now been relocated and housed in pavilions.

The Catalan Government had prohibited departures from the city of Lleida and another 37 municipalities for non-essential travel and gatherings of more than 10 people, among other measures, after a considerable increase in the number of infections in the last few days.