Date Published: 14/05/2020
ARCHIVED - 1.4 percent of Murcia population is believed to have contracted Covid-19
ARCHIVED ARTICLE This is way below the national average of 5% and accounting for 2 million people across Spain
The first results of a national study aiming to ascertain if 5% of the Spanish population has had contact with the Covid-19 virus have been published by the Carlos III Institute of Health in Madrid, confirming that this is indeed the case and that in spite of only 228,691 officially tested cases being reported, " the study does verify that 5 percent of the Spanish population nationwide has had contact with the virus, that is, just over two million people," according to the Ministry of Health.
The Carlos III seroprevalence macro-study started on April 27th and plans to study the potential of herd immunity in 90,000 Spanish citizens, of whom 3,237 are from the Region of Murcia.
There is a marked difference in the levels of antibodies found when comparing data between the 17 autonomous communities.
The average nationwide is 5% as had been anticipated, with Ceuta (1.1 percent), Murcia (1.4), Asturias (1.8) and the Canary Islands (1.8) with a prevalence of less than 2 percent, while the Communities of Castilla-La Mancha (10, 8) and Madrid (11.3) exceed 10 percent.
This positions Murcia as the mainland region with the lowest prevalence of the virus, (1.4%, around 20,000 people) and although this could be viewed as a positive figure, it also suggests that the Murcian population is less protected and immunized against a secondary coronavirus outbreak, so vigilance must be maintained.
In reality, nine out of ten cases not only in the Murcia region but also nationwide are undetected due to the lack of tester kits and resources to carry out PCR swab tests, although last week the health Ministry made it absolutely clear that the government sees little gain in testing the entire population and that to do so is not viewed as a realistic proposition.
The study confirms that only around 10% of cases are diagnosed and that Spain is far from achieving herd immunity, which requires around 60 percent of the population to have Covid antibodies in their blood.
The Murcian regional health authority has attributed the low rate in Murcia to “the measures taken to prevent the virus from circulating and the population paying attention to the recommendations of the health authorities”.
This week the health authority has called for the population to remain attentive to the risk of Covid-19 and not to become complacent; although Murcia has managed to maintain the lowest rates throughout the crisis, this does mean that we also have the lowest level of immunity in the country should there be a second wave.
Planning for this eventuality is already well underway, with a focus on establishing track and trace facilities to minimise the spread of a potential second outbreak in the autumn.
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