The latest report from the epidemiology service in the Balearics points indicates that 118 coronavirus outbreaks are currently being investigated. Since the start of the pandemic, 1,043 outbreaks have been detected.
The spokesperson for the infectious diseases committee, Javier Arranz, has expressed his concern that outbreaks are affecting a greater number of people. The average number of positive cases per outbreak is eight, with a range from three to as many as 94. Some outbreaks correspond to people who have travelled to the mainland or abroad, and one of these led to the detection of the first cases of the South African variant in Mallorca.
Most outbreaks, over eighty per cent, have occurred as a result of social gatherings of varying kinds. The presence of the Brazilian variant was detected for the first time as a consequence of an outbreak with nine positive cases and over forty close contacts.
Specialist in preventive medicine and public health, Joan Carles March, shares concerns regarding outbreaks involving young people. "It is important to detect them and, better still, to prevent them. It is necessary to communicate in a way that works better with young people in achieving change."
He adds: "We have seen not just outbreaks, but also macro outbreaks. For this reason, it is important to maintain basic restrictions, mainly indoors, such as in bars and gyms, and to control illegal parties with concentrations of greater numbers of people than are permitted."