COVID-19

Six autonomous communities remain on 'extreme' level 4 risk. Nine are on 'high' level 3 risk, one on 'low' level 1 risk. The Valencian Community has fallen from 'extreme' to 'high' risk after seeing coronavirus cases fall over the last week. The region's accumulated incidence has fallen to 234 cases per 100,000 over the last 14 days (250+ cases per 100,000 would be 'extreme' risk). This is below the worst […]

Spain's Banco de Alimentos saw users double from 1 million in January to over 1.8 million by November in 2020. The coronavirus pandemic has hit Spain's struggling families worse than the 2008 financial crisis, according to its principal food bank. Director general of Spain's network of 54 'Banco de Alimentos' – Miguel Fernández – said thousands of families have been gone hungry due to COVID-19 restrictions. Fernández said minors made […]

Spain’s secretary of state for health said: “If we really like Christmas, let’s try to make sure we’re all here for the next one”. The Spanish government has called on people to behave responsibly and use their 'common sense' after pictures over the weekend showed the streets of Madrid and other big cities heaving with crowds despite the ongoing struggle with the second wave of coronavirus. A combination of Black […]

Passengers can pre-book a PCR test for £60 – members of the public pay £99. Book Gatwick test here; Edinburgh here. Drive-through COVID-19 testing is now available at Gatwick and Edinburgh airports from £60. Passengers and staff can pre-book a PCR test on the ExpressTest website before receiving a QR code with their testing time. The facilities are open from 8am-8pm from Monday-Sunday including for members of the public, who […]

Researchers at the University of Barcelona found that COVID-19 patients complained of the same symptoms, aiding future diagnosis. The most-noted symptom was 'fatigue' – 97% of coronavirus-positive participants in the study complained of this symptom. Fatigue was followed by headache (88%), loss of smell (85%), loss of taste (79%), low-grade fever (82%) and a dry cough (74%). Nasal douche The study looked at 35 patients with mild symptoms – a […]

Passengers arriving in England can reduce mandatory self-isolation by at least a week – UK gov. new strategy for international arrivals. From 15th December, international arrivals in England will be able to reduce mandatory quarantine by a week. Tourists and residents will have the option to take a COVID-19 test after 5 days of self-isolation – a negative result will exempt them from further self-isolation. Transport Secretary Grant Shapps made […]

Care homes, front-line health workers and healthcare providers will be given priority in Spain's COVID-19 vaccination programme. Care home residents have made up 53% of Spain's COVID-19 fatalities – that's 23,131 deaths from a total of over 43,000. A whopping 50,000 front-line health workers also tested COVID-19 positive by PCR in the pandemic's first wave – that's more than Italy and France's 30,000 infected and Germany's 15,000. Current estimates say […]

Spain's government will propose a six-person limit on family reunions over the Christmas period. A draft proposal suggest the 'rule of 6' will be enforced for both Christmas and New Year – called Nochebuena and Nochevieja, respectively, in Spain. A nighttime curfew from 01:00 until 06:00 is also on the table, leading press agency Europa Press reports. The government will recommend that only members of the same household celebrate social […]