Marbella hit by first coronavirus case in 11 days as Costa Del Sol ravaged by string of outbreaks just as Brits return
MARBELLA has been hit by its first coronavirus case in eleven days as resorts across the Costa del Sol register new outbreaks.
The new cases come just weeks after Spain reopened its borders and British holidaymakers began to make their return.
Officials from the Regional Government of Andalusia said that two people were yesterday diagnosed with the virus in Marbella.
The cases bring the number of people in the municipality to have tested positive since the start of the pandemic to 423.
The cases were the first diagnosed in Marbella since July 10, when two people tested positive.
Before that, no cases had been confirmed since July 3, when another two people had tested positive.
In neighbouring Malaga, 23 new cases were also confirmed in the past 24 hours.
Authorities said that only nine people are currently being treated in hospital and none have been admitted to intensive care.
Two new localised outbreaks have also been observed in the city of Almeria, east of Malaga, with seven cases diagnosed in each.
The news comes one month after tourists began to return to holiday hotspots along Spain's southern coast following a decision by the country's government to reopen its borders.
Among the Brits to have taken advantage are heavyweight boxing champions Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury, who yesterday were pictured during a chance meeting in Marbella.
Speaking last month, Tourism Minister Reyes Maroto told ABC that Spain hoped to "build trust" and “translate to travellers, Spaniards and foreigners, that the country is a safe destination.”
SPAIN 'COULD SEE FRESH LOCKDOWN'
Cases petered out across Spain through the end of June and that beginning of July, but have risen again over the past week.
The country as a whole has seen at least 1,300 new cases on each of the last six days.
Reports have now emerged that Spain may be taken off the UK's safe list of 'green' countries, meaning Brit tourists currently in the country may be asked to quarantine again on their return.
On Friday, four million people in Barcelona and the surrounding region were urged to stay at home and told a lockdown could be reintroduced amid a spike in cases.
Most read in News
Jacobo Mendioroz, chief of Catalonia’s coronavirus monitoring unit, said: “The next step is home confinement.
"We really do not have other tools to protect citizens, but it is what we would like to avoid."
