Jailed Catalan pro-independence leader in coronavirus isolation

The former head of the pro-independence ANC organization, Jordi Sànchez, is in isolation in Lledoners prison infirmary after coming into contact with a possible coronavirus case.

Sources close to Sànchez say the activist leader so far has no covid-19 symptoms but is likely to be diagnosed with the illness due to the contact with a suspected case.

Sànchez will have to spend 72 hours in isolation while waiting for the results of the test he took on Thursday in a hospital in Manresa, not far from the prison where he is held.

The same sources say it was Sànchez himself who informed the prison authorities about the contact he had with the suspected coronavirus case.

The prison authorities say that should Sànchez be diagnosed with covid-19, he will be transferred to the Pavelló prison hospital in the city of Terrassa, not far from Barcelona.

Sànchez is one of the leaders jailed over the independence bid in Catalonia in 2017. He was sentenced to a nine-year term for sedition by Spain's Supreme Court in October.

A few weeks ago, Sànchez became one of the first jailed leaders to be granted temporary prison leave of three days a week, 11 hours a day, in order to work.