Spain’s Balearic Islands seeing 'second wave' of Covid-19 infections

THE Balearic Islands are experiencing what could be described as a ‘second wave’ of Covid-19 infections, the spokesman for the regional committee for the management of infectious diseases said on Monday.
Speaking at a press conference to give an update on the latest virus figures, Javier Arranz reported the islands have seen an increase in the number of hospitalisations and admissions to intensive care, among them people in the 20 to 50-year-old age group.
An additional 60 Covid-19 patients were admitted to hospital on the archipelago over the weekend, of which 11 were intensive care cases.
Arranz said the rise would continue for several days, although he also expressed the view the situation is not as serious as in March.
“The health service is not in a critical situation, and we don’t want to get there,” he commented.
As it stands there are 252 people with the virus in the island’s hospitals, of whom 25 are there for social reasons, and 33 are in intensive care units.
Mallorca accounts for 222 of the hospitalisations.
The number of people testing positive for the virus over the weekend in the Balearics was 352, while an additional 526 people are classified as having recovered from the illness since Friday.
This means the number of active cases has dropped by 174 to 1,567.
Taking the Health Ministry calculations, which do not include 105 positive serologies from prior to May 11, the total number of cases since the start of the pandemic now stands at 5,696.
Of these 5,055 correspond to Mallorca, 448 to Ibiza, 154 to Menorca and 39 to Formentera.
There were no deaths related to Covid-19 over the weekend.
Arranz warned there is community transmission in the Balearics and underlined the need for the public to do their bit to try and stop the spread of Covid-19 by abiding by health safety measures and restrictions.
“It is everyone’s responsibility,” he stressed, pointing particularly to the behaviour of people on bar and restaurant terraces and the importance of keeping a mask on the whole time unless actually eating and drinking.
He did not rule out the possibility of the regional government introducing further restrictions in the coming days if the number of new cases of the virus continues to rise.