Cristina Hodgson
FOUR municipalities in the province of Malaga are in the red with alarmingly high numbers of COVID-19 cases registered per 100,000 inhabitants.
According to the data published by the Regional Ministry of Health and Families, Salares, a municipality in the region of La Axarquia, registers 1,775.1 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, followed by Teba with 1,702.1, Gaucin with 1,219.5 and Monda with 806.6.
On the other side of the spectrum, the towns of Atajate, Benadalid and Farajan, all in the Serrania de Ronda, are yet to register a single case of coronavirus, successfully dodging the pandemic ten months after it began.
Meanwhile, Malaga city has a rate of 150.3 new cases per 100,000 inhabitants, Marbella has 149.2, Fuengirola 210.4, Estepona 155.2, Torremolinos 128.2, Mijas 178.9, Benalmadena 89.5, Nerja 75.9, Antequera 21.8, Rincon de la Victoria 112.3 and Ronda 209.6.
In general, Malaga province ranks fifth in Andalucia in terms of the rate of new infections.
The worst in the autonomous community is Jaen, with 222.9 positive cases per 100,000 inhabitants, followed by Cadiz with 221.8, Almeria with 208.4, Cordoba with 160.8 and then Malaga with 156.9.
Following Malaga is Huelva with 145.1, Granada with 144.8 and Sevilla, registering the lowest numbers, at 102.2 per 100,000 inhabitants.
The emergence of the more infectious British strain in the community, 16 cases in total, has led the Junta to criticise the central Government for the lack of border control between Gibraltar and the Autonomous Community.
Malaga, with 11 infections, is currently the Andalucian province with most cases registered of this new contagious variant.
The remaining five cases have been registered between between Granada (three) and Sevilla and Cadiz with one each.
According to official sources, as of December 5, a total of 267,083 people in Andalucia have been infected with COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic in March.
