CORONAVIRUS: SPAIN BUYS 640,000 15-MINUTE COVID-19 RAPID DETECTION TESTS

IN A WELCOME MOVE THE SPANISH HEALTH MINISTRY HAS ANNOUNCED IT MANAGED TO ACQUIRE OVER HALF-A-MILLION RAPID DETECTION CORONAVIRUS TESTING KITS.

Another deal managed to secure a million kits which give results out in an astonishing 15 minutes. The problem they have now is trying to find a supplier for the protective equipment urgently needed by medical workers, the frontline staff in the war against the virus.

María José Sierra, from the Centre for Coordination of Emergencies and Health Alerts, explained that the increase of 5,000 more cases today (20% of the total since the start of the crisis) was expected. And that it will continue to grow, although it is not known exactly when the contagion peak will be reached.

What is known is that hospitals are overwhelmed with more than 13,000 hospitalised to date by coronavirus (half of the cases require admission) and 12% of them are in the ICU. If the data continues to increase at this rate on Tuesday, it would reach the data of those affected that Italy currently has, about 47,000.

Regarding ages, Sierra explained that 50% of those hospitalised are over 70 years old, a percentage that rises to 70% in ICUs. Those under 30 years of age represent around 5-10% and those under 20, between 1 and 2%.

Patricia Lacruz, general director of Pharmacy, explained that they continue to search through all international markets and also producers of protective equipment in Spain. Today 500,000 surgical masks for staff and 800,000 for patients will arrive, but more are needed, 700 respirators will also arrive shortly.

Regarding the tests, Raquel Yotti, from the Carlos III Institute, explained that 35,000 tests (pcr) have already been carried out on the population and that between 15,000 and 20,000 tests are carried out every day, some acquired in the international market and some produced in Spain.

In addition, 4 robots have been purchased to perform 80,000 daily tests.