In Spain, the number of new cases of Covid-19 has further increased significantly, according to the report published on Friday July 31 by the Ministry of Health.

The number of cases diagnosed the day before the publication of the report amounts to 1,525, a figure which has continued to increase in recent weeks and which was still below 1,000 last Friday. Over the past seven days, the number of diagnosed cases has reached 14,198, an average of over 2,000 per day.

The difference between these two figures is due to the notification of part of the cases, sometimes several days after the diagnosis by the regions, responsible for health, to the ministry.

The authorities assure that this is not a second wave

The most affected regions remain Catalonia with more than 5,000 cases in seven days and Aragon (2,884), but the rebound is also increasing in the region of Madrid (2,074). By comparison, the number of new cases diagnosed in the past seven days was 5,695 two weeks ago.

In total, Spain has counted more than 288,000 cases of Covid-19 since the start of the epidemic and more than 28,400 deaths. Despite this rebound in cases, the authorities assure that this is not a second wave.

"I don't know if there will be any new waves in the future. It doesn't seem to me that there will be. If there was, we would be in a very different situation than we are currently experiencing." the chief epidemiologist of the Ministry of Health, Fernando Simon, said Thursday.

Concern for its European neighbors

But Spain's European neighbors are worried. Germany on Friday classified the regions of Aragon, Catalonia and Navarre as risk areas, implying a quarantine for returning travelers, unless they test negative.

France has advised its nationals not to travel to Catalonia while the United Kingdom reimposed a two-week quarantine on Sunday for travelers returning from Spain.

These measures have serious consequences for the second largest tourist destination in the world where both Britons and Germans are among the largest contingents of tourists.

With AFP

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