Catalan health minister warns of 'tough' week as covid-19 cases set to rise

The Catalan health minister warned on Tuesday that "it will be a very tough" week in terms of the number of new cases testing positive for covid-19, but she also said that a quick test for the disease will soon become available.

Talking on the Catalunya Ràdio station, Alba Vergés said the number of serious cases would go up over the next few days, but she also said that her department is aiming to launch an app to provide information to people with coronavirus symptoms.

Predicting that this week's expected rise in the number of cases would "stretch" Catalan hospitals, the minister reiterated that the public should remain at home unless they had to leave for essential reasons: "People have to stay at home," she said.

Vergés added that her department is ready to call on retired doctors as well as postgraduate students with a medical degree, and while she said emergency rooms are prepared, the question is whether they can remain so "with what is coming."

Asked about the Conca d'Òdena area in central Catalonia where four towns have been sealed off, the minister said that it is "perfectly possible" that there will be positive cases outside the confinement area, originating before the restriction was applied.