Covid update: ‘British’ strain detected in 12% of new cases in the Canaries

The Ministry of Health have released today’s data which shows that 145 new cases have been detected in the islands, highlighting how the incidence of the virus is dropping across the archipelago. 73 of these were registered in Gran Canaria, 49 in Tenerife, 14 in Lanzarote, and 9 in Fuerteventura.

There have also been two more Covid related deaths, in Gran Canaria and Lanzarote, meaning that 565 people have now lost their lives. This data will be partly what the Governing Council will review tomorrow at their weekly meeting, to decipher any alert level changes in the islands to take effect from Monday when the ‘Carnival’ restrictions finish.

The Ministry has also reported that the ‘British strain’ of coronavirus has been detected in 12% (45) of 380 samples that they have deep tested. The samples tested were mainly from Tenerife, and mainly from people thought ‘likely’ to have the strain due to their movements and contacts.

Public Health is currently fine-tuning a Canary Island surveillance network for virus variants as it is common knowledge that these new strains are far more transmissible than the ‘usual’ variant, and that our war against the virus is far from won.

“This result is not unexpected. The presence of the ‘British variant’ in the Canary Islands is unquestionable, although it is logical that the European countries closest to the UK will have more cases of it. Due to our restriction and theirs when travelling, we are more protected, but this variant has more capacity for transmission", explains Álvaro Torres Lana, a specialist in Preventive Medicine at the General Directorate of Public Health of the Canary Islands Government.

Data for Wednesday 17th February 2021:
New cases:
Total: 145
Gran Canaria: 73 (50%)
Tenerife: 49 (34%)
Lanzarote: 14
Fuerteventura: 9
La Palma: 0
El Hierro: 0
La Gomera: 0

Current Incidence rate (IA7):
Canary Islands: 57.58
El Hierro: 373.82
Lanzarote: 125.42
Gran Canaria: 65.79
Fuerteventura: 47.05
Tenerife: 40.64
La Palma: 21.77
La Gomera: 9.30

Current Incidence rate (IA14):
Canary Islands: 124.50
El Hierro: 939.10
Lanzarote: 333.58
Gran Canaria: 144.14
Fuerteventura: 78.71
Tenerife: 77.14
La Palma: 49.59
La Gomera: 9.30

General:
Covid patients in hospital: 303 (+1)
Covid patients in ICU: 80 (+1)
Home isolation: 6,295
PCR positive rate: 4.46% (needs to be below 5)
R number: 0.90 (needs to be below 1)

Deaths last 24 hours: 2
Gran Canaria: 1 (178)
Lanzarote: 1 (33)
Total deaths: 565

Vaccination:
Total administered: 106,596
Two doses: 45,357

Medical Discharges in last 24 hours:
Total: 346
Gran Canaria: 182
Tenerife: 88
Lanzarote: 51
Fuerteventura: 23
El Hierro: 2
La Palma: 0
La Gomera: 0

Total Active cases per island:
Total: 6,678
Gran Canaria: 3,814 (-110)
Tenerife: 2,190 (-39)
Lanzarote: 432 (-38)
Fuerteventura: 123 (-24)
El Hierro: 94 (-2)
La Palma: 23 (-)
La Gomera: 2 (-)

Municipalities with most active cases in each island:
3,462 in Las Palmas (Gran Canaria)
1,278 in Santa Cruz (Tenerife)
409 in Arrecife (Lanzarote)
406 in La Laguna (Tenerife)
102 in Adeje (Tenerife)
93 in Valverde (El Hierro)
90 in Granadilla de Abona (Tenerife)
83 in Arona (Tenerife)
80 in San Bartolomé de Tirajana (Gran Canaria)
70 in Puerto del Rosario (Fuerteventura)
20 in Guia de Isora (Tenerife)
19 in Puerto de La Cruz (Tenerife)
7 in San Miguel de Abona (Tenerife)

Please note this is not all municipalities, it represents most infected and tourist areas.