The rate of coronavirus cases on the Canaries has risen during the first week of August, highlighting the need to follow rules and recommendations on social distancing, mask use and hand washing.
The Canarian Health Service’s Covid 19 information page shows that 155 cases have been registered in the month of August so far. Details of cases are not provided on the page, but around 90 of these correspond to migrants arriving on pateras which have been intercepted and isolated.
Nevertheless, the rate also appears to be rising among the local population, with Gran Canaria taking over from Tenerife as the focus for active cases. Gran Canaria has 149 active cases, mostly in its capital Las Palmas, while Tenerife has 102. The trend is nowhere near as alarming as it is in the worst-affected areas of mainland Spain, but it also shows that the Canaries cannot afford to be complacent.
The information on the Canarian Health Service site also provides a useful overview of how the virus has progressed on the islands. The accumulated cases (acumulado) graph in the bottom left of the page provides a running total of Covid-19 cases, recoveries and deaths since the virus was first detected at the end of January, and is what people are usually talking about when they mention “flattening the curve.”
The orange line represents the running total of cases and shows the dramatic effect that the lockdown in March and April had on the spread of the virus. The green curve represents C-19 cases who have recovered from the virus, and appears to follow the newly-detected cases by about four weeks. The red line at the bottom represents deaths and the good news is that it has stayed flat since 10th June.
The rise in cases in August can be better seen by clicking on the “diario” tab beneath the graph, which shows the total of cases for each day. The “Test PCR” tab shows the amount of PCR tests and their results.
One problem with the Canarian Health Services site is that it does not provide detailed information for each island, but instead focuses on each municipality. The Spanish Health Ministry’s information page offers figures for provinces, but its graphics are not as up-to-date as the regional government’s site.
