Concern as small town of Montblanc faces worst outbreak since beginning of pandemic

Montblanc, a small town between Tarragona and Lleida of almost 7,400 inhabitants, is facing its greatest hurdle since the pandemic hit, and while most of the country has its sights on the upcoming Easter holiday, locals are bracing for what may yet be to come.

"If we need a lockdown like the one in the Igualada area, so be it," says mayor Josep Andreu, referring to the Conca d'Òdena confinement of March 2020 put in place as four towns faced far higher than average Covid-19 rates among the population.

Indeed, Montblanc, in Conca de Barberà county, now finds itself in a similar predicament: with 144 confirmed positives since February 16 and around a third of its school's students in quarantine, the town now has Catalonia's worst outbreak risks and transmission rates.

On Monday, the county's figures stood at 1,733 and 4.07, well above Catalonia's average of 201 and 1.06 on the same day, while Montblanc's outbreak risk was 3,834 and its transmission rate was 3.9.

The local council has closed all municipal sports centers and parks as it awaits guidance from the health department, which in turn has begun to carry out mass Covid-19 testing. From Wednesday, 6,300 residents over the age of 16 are called to the screening site that has been set up at the Casal Montblanquí cultural center.