14 Imported Cases of Coronavirus Arrive in Spain’s Canary Islands Via Paddle Boat

This Sunday the Canary government tested all immigrants who arrived in the country via paddleboat and amongst those on board, 14 were infected with the coronavirus.

FOR weeks now the Canary government has been testing any incoming immigrants and the latest influx of displaced persons who arrived in Fuerteventura had 14 positive cases.

Until now, this medical control had only resulted in sporadic contagions, around one or two cases per boat. This is despite the fact that these boats usually arrive in Spain with around 25 to 50 people – sometimes even more – who all sail together in very close proximity, in journeys that usually last from one to four days (depending on where they depart from).

However, the 14 infections diagnosed on Wednesday emerged from a boat of 39 immigrants who had left from Aiun in Western Sahara only a day earlier.

The mandatory 14-day quarantine that the State has decreed for anyone arriving from abroad at a Spanish airport is also being applied to boats.