Catalonia confirms first cases of new Delta plus coronavirus variant

Catalonia confirms first cases of new Delta plus coronavirus variant

Josep Maria Argimon, the Minister of Health, confirmed this morning, Saturday, October 23, that so far, five cases of the new British Delta plus variant of coronavirus have been detected in Catalonia. He has called for “prudence” from the public.

Mr Argimon assured that these cases of the so-called British variant are “anecdotal”, as being only five, they can be counted on just one hand. He added that “Later they will tell me about some more for sure, since when cases begin to appear, then they continue to increase”.

The minister made the announcement during his presentation at the Girona Region Health campus, which includes the new Trueta Hospital.

According to the incidence data updated by the Department of Health of the Generalitat today, the total number of Covid cases accumulated in Catalonia since the beginning of the pandemic already exceeds one million. Specifically, 1,000,468, after another 661 cases were confirmed in the last 24 hours.

The index that measures the growth potential of the epidemic, has reportedly increased by two points today and now stands at 51. Also up is the transmission speed (Rt), which has increased five hundredths in this case, and stands at 1.16, which means that every 100 people infected infect an average of another 116 people, as reported by 20minutos.es.