5% of Spaniards infected with coronavirus: study

Approximately five percent of Spaniards have been infected with the novel coronavirus, according to the first stage of a study carried out by the Spanish Ministry of Health, Consumer Affairs and Social Welfare and the Spanish Statistical Office.

The three-stage study which began on April 27 is expected to look for antibodies to see if people had been infected with COVID-19. The results of the first stage announced at a press conference on Wednesday indicate that although the virus is far more extended than official figures suggest, the vast majority of the population have not developed immunity to the disease.

Marina Pollan, director of Spain's National Center of Epidemiology, explained that the coronavirus had a "prevalence of five percent" in Spain as a whole, but she stressed the "great geographical variability" of the virus.

Madrid, the capital city, is one of the most affected regions of Spain, with 11.3 of its population testing positive for COVID-19 antibodies, while 12.6 percent of the nearby city of Segovia had antibodies whereas the region of Soria in central Spain is the worst affected, with 14.2 percent of residents having antibodies.

This contrasted with the northern region of Asturias and the southwestern province of Huelva, where only 1.8 and 1.5 percent of inhabitants were carrying antibodies respectively.

"This gives us a very good picture (of the pandemic) and it confirms the hypothesis we have been working with, with the scaled-down plan we have been working with," Health Minister Salvador Illa noted.

The study tested around 60,000 people of different age and gender groups in 1,416 health centers in Spain's 50 provinces, with the aim of having an accurate picture of the epidemic.

There are still two more stages of the study to be carried out, with 21 days between each stage.

"We think it is one of the most solid epidemiological studies that has been carried out in the world and certainly in the western world and one of the most solid for how representative it is," explained Pedro Duque, Minister for Science, Innovation and Universities.

On Wednesday, the Health Ministry confirmed 184 new deaths from COVID-19, bringing the toll to 27,104, while 426 news cases took the official total to 228,691.