At the time of writing it’s fair to say that Lanzarote has been comparatively lucky compared to many other parts of Spain and the Canaries.
Lanzarote’s first two cases were reported on March 13th, and consisted of a pair of tourists who had arrived from Madrid. The couple had arrived on Tuesday 10th, and the sister of one of them called them the next day to inform them that she had tested positive. The couple reported this to the hotel, and were rapidly placed in isolation before tests confirmed they were positive on the Thursday night.
A third case, about which no details were released, followed this announcement, before several days during which the figures did not change. At one point, the Tías health Councillor and emergency nurse Laura Callero was reported as positive, but secondary tests from Madrid showed that this diagnosis had been false.
However, few doubted that further cases would be detected on Lanzarote, and that proved to be the case shortly, with an outbreak of four cases in the old people’s residence of Las Cabreras near Tahiche. On March 24th, a 71 year-old German man from Las Breñas in Yaiza would become the first mortal victim of the virus on Lanzarote. Two days later, he would be followed by an 80-year old Englishman.
Lanzarote, however, has still not suffered anywhere as much as Tenerife, which has reported almost two thirds of all cases and deaths on the Canaries, and the island of La Palma, with just over half the population of Lanzarote and no international airport or mainstream tourist trade, has mysteriously suffered nearly twice as many cases as our island.
