Laurence Dollimore
ANDALUCIA registered 781 cases of coronavirus on Wednesday, figures from the Junta have shown.
That figure is considerably lower than the 1,043 recorded on Tuesday, with Malaga slashing its daily count from 307 to 135 in the past 24 hours.
Granada recorded the most cases Wednesday with 175, followed by Sevilla (150), Malaga (135), Cadiz (109), Almeria (87), Cordoba (51), Jaen (42) and Huelva (32).
Meanwhile a total of 255 overcame COVID-19 between Tuesday and Wednesday.
In terms of hospitalisations, some 65 people have been admitted with coronavirus in the past 24 hours, with two entering intensive care.
The drop in the increase of cases in Malaga could spell good news for the province if it can maintain it.
It comes after the Junta said it was ‘keeping a close eye’ on the tourism mecca due to its higher incidence of the virus compared to its provincial neighbours.
If the numbers increased, it said, lifestyle restrictions would likely be introduced next week.
But the Junta’s deputy health minister Catalina Garcia has walked back the claim that there is community transmission in Malaga.
Garcia admitted it has a higher incidence rate of the virus but insisted ‘this does not mean there is community contagion.’
She said the Junta declared community transmission following the report of an epidemiologist from Malaga who ‘with their own criteria decided there was community transmission in Malaga to justify the restriction of visits to the nursing home in their area.’
The expert in question, said Garcia during a visit to a hospital in Jaen, ‘does not have the data for all of Malaga to say there is community transmission, so we do not share that view.’
“Malaga has a greater incidence due to its location (as a tourist hotspot), but there is no community transmission,” Garcia insisted.
She added that as soon as it exists and Public Health confirms it with the corresponding reports and data, ‘the necessary measures will be adopted…today that is not a reality.”
