King Felipe Tests Positive But Rate Continues To Fall
King Felipe VI, who has just celebrated his 54th birthday, has tested positive for covid-19 after experiencing mild symptoms since Tuesday afternoon, according to a statement released by the Zarzuela palace.
The Spanish monarch is in “good” health but will remain in isolation with all official in-person duties cancelled for the next seven days.
However, the Royal Household has stressed that he will continue with online meetings and where possible maintain the official schedule remotely.
The palace statement said that both Queen Letizia and the Infanta Sofia have no symptoms for now and “may continue with their planned activities normally, according to the established protocols”.
The news comes as the latest official figures show that the infection rate continues to fall.
The figures show that the latest government infection incident rate now stands at 1692 cases per 100,000 inhabitants – half that of the peak in January.
Earlier last month, the Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sanchez, suggested that the pandemic could now be treated as endemic and called on the EU to change tack in its response to handling the coronavirus.
As throughout the pandemic there are wide regional variations with Madrid´s 1059 cases per 100,000 signifiantly below the national average and less than half that still being registered in Catalunia.
The falling number of coronavirus cases has allowed the country to lift many restrictions in place to combat the pandemic.
As from today Thursday 10th February, face masks are no longer required to be worn outdoors though social distancing and indoor masks are still the rule.
To date Spain has recorded some 10.2 million cases of which 94,000 have been fatal.
