Sharp leap in cases; two new positive tests on Lanzarote

New Canarian coronavirus cases leapt sharply, bringing the total on the islands to 414 at 8pm on Saturday 21^st March. Figures included the first case registered on El Hierro. The weekend also saw the islands’ death toll from the virus reach 9.

Lanzarote registered one extra case in the official figures published by the Health Ministry. No details were provided about this patient, but after the official statistics had been lodged reports came in of a fifth case on the island, who worked in the Las Cabreras old people’s residence near Tahiche. Both tests are awaiting confirmation, but quarantine measures have been observed in the meantime.

Although the rise is worrying, Lanzarote appears to have escaped the worst of the crisis so far, with Tenerife and Gran Canaria taking the brunt, while neighbouring Fuerteventura, with a smaller population and fewer tourists, has more than doubled Lanzarote’s tally.

However, this is no reason to believe that measures should be relaxed here. This is a national emergency and the statistics in Spain are genuinely shocking. To date, the country has suffered 20,000 contagions and over 1,000 deaths, and those figures are rising sharply each day. Currently, Spain has suffered more cases and deaths than Italy had done at the same point in time since its first case was registered.

Amós García, the head of Epidemiology for the Canarian government told La Voz de Lanzarote “Saying that there are three cases is just one way of putting it; what we’ve got to avoid is that that figure turns into 50, 60 or 70.” He also pointed out that, as the incubation period for coronavirus could last up to three weeks, there could easily be undetected cases.

However, it’s not only Lanzarote that has been relatively lucky up until now. So far, the Canaries has the lowest incidence of coronavirus of all Spain’s autonomous communities. According to Amós García, this has made the islands the perfect place to research and control the spread of the disease.