Madrid reports first coronavirus outbreak, with five mild cases and 18 contacts under observation

The Madrid health department on Friday reported the first new Covid-19 outbreak in the region since the end of the state of alarm, after five mild cases were detected in a company in the Spanish capital. The people affected, aged between 18 and 54, are currently in isolation at home and have not required hospital treatment, according to the regional government. They are being monitored by primary healthcare doctors and the labor risk prevention service at their company, the name of which has not been made public.

Madrid had not reported any new outbreaks despite being the region with most diagnosed cases after Catalonia

According to a statement made by the regional health department, “the epidemiological investigation carried out [...] allowed for the rapid identification of the Covid-19 cases as well as their close contacts, which are also under medical observation.” In total, there are 18 people under observation: six from the workplace and 12 relatives or social contacts.

Until now, Madrid had not reported any new outbreaks despite being the region with most diagnosed cases after Catalonia.

On Thursday, Fernando Simón, the director of the Health Ministry’s Coordination Center for Health Alerts (CCAES), described the situation in Madrid and Barcelona as a “little strange,” given that they were not reporting new outbreaks despite having such large populations. Could this mean that Madrid is not detecting them? “Just as any other region could not be,” he replied. “I think that we are doing a very good job of detecting cases but we know that we are not detecting 100% of them,” Simón added.

Friday report

The Health Ministry’s coronavirus report released on Friday pointed to 17 coronavirus-related deaths in the last 24 hours, compared to the five reported on Thursday, with daily infections rising to 174 compared to the 134 notified by the regions the previous day.

In total, there have been 250,545 confirmed infections in Spain since the crisis began, with 28,385 victims confirmed by PCR tests.

In Madrid, 50 new cases were reported on Friday, followed by Catalonia with 42 and Aragón with 31. Galicia has seen 11 new cases, while Andalusia, the Balearic and Canary Islands, Castilla-La Mancha, Valencia, Extremadura, Murcia, Navarre and the Basque Country detected less than 10 each. The rest of the regions have seen no new cases.

English version by Simon Hunter.