Friday 28 February 2020

A fourth case of coronavirus in Catalonia has been confirmed late today. This is a 58-year-old woman from Sant Cugat del Vallès, who is hospitalised in a mild state at the Hospital Clínic de Barcelona. The woman had been in contact with a positive case in Germany. She joins three other patients with mild symptoms of coronavirus isolated at the hospital and 'evolving favourably.'

Researchers at a specialised hospital in Milan have managed to isolate the Italian version of the new coronavirus. "The epidemic is not new in the country and the virus has been circulating inadvertently for several weeks, before the first confirmed cases of the disease," said Professor Massimo Galli, a leader of the research team.

Our risk assessment for infection of coronavirus in Barcelona is currently 'low', with caution advised in crowded areas, e.g. public transport, markets. Students should bring hand sanitiser (plenty of regular hand cleaning and avoiding touching the face recommended) and face masks (pro-active caution) in case the alert level rises. Official advice is that the risk varies according to the identified cases and that in the points where there are no positive cases the risk is low or very low.

So far there has been no contagion in Barcelona so protocols 'in phase 1, the containment phase' are being maintained. These focus only on the early detection of the possible infected. Everything is prepared in case the alert level is increased if an outbreak arises. In that case 'similar measures would be taken' to those implemented by other countries, such as Italy.

Coronavirus - Advice for Visiting Groups