ARCHIVED - 226 coronavirus cases and 3 deaths as the epidemic spreads to almost all of Spain

Spanish university students spending a year in Italy are to be flown home free of charge

The number of coronavirus cases reported in Spain continues to increase significantly but is not mushrooming in the way that some feared it might a few days ago, with another 55 patients having been diagnosed on Wednesday to bring the total nationwide up to 226.

At the same time two more coronavirus-related deaths have been reported, those of an 82-year-old man in the province of Vizcaya (in the Basque Country) and a 99-year-old woman in Madrid, but despite the news during Wednesday that three cases had been confirmed in schoolchildren in Madrid and Castilla y Léon the government maintains that there is no need at present to contemplate the closure of schools, a measure which has been decided upon by the Italian government. Among the reasons cited for the Spanish government’s reluctance to close down the education system is that it has apparently been established that the Covid-19 virus is less virulent in children.

At the latest count on Wednesday night the distribution of the confirmed cases was as follows:

Madrid – 76

Catalunya – 28

Comunidad Valenciana - 22

Basque Country - 21

Andalucía - 13 + 1 recovery

Castilla-La Mancha - 12

Castilla y León – 12

Cantabria – 10

Canary Islands - 7 + 1 recovery

Extremadura - 6

La Rioja – 5

Balearics - 5

Asturias – 4

Navarra - 3

Galicia – 1

Aragón – 1

The addition of the first case in Aragón means that the Region of Murcia now stands alone among the 17 regions of Spain in having no confirmed coronavirus cases to date, although the news that one has been diagnosed just a few kilometres away in Orihuela, in the province of Alicante, suggests that this may not remain the case for long.

It Italy, meanwhile, the closure of all schools and universities has led to the Spanish “Erasmus” university students spending a year in the country being offered an all-expenses-paid return to this country by the national government. This is due to their being able to invoke the “acts of God” clause in the agreements by which they are studying abroad this year, and the European Commission therefore offers them the chance to “cancel, postpone or transfer” their activities.

Among Spanish Erasmus students Italy has until now been the favourite destination, welcoming over 8,000 Spaniards into its universities every year as well as around 2,000 teaching staff.

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