Costa Blanca town near Benidorm suffers massive coronavirus spike blamed on huge influx of tourists

TOURISTS have been blamed for a spike in the number of new coronavirus cases in a Costa Blanca holiday resort. The town of Denia, a half-hour drive from Benidorm, is drawing comparisons with Madrid because of the level of contagion over the past fortnight. It currently has 367 cases per 100,000 inhabitants compared to the […]

TOURISTS have been blamed for a spike in the number of new coronavirus cases in a Costa Blanca holiday resort.

The town of Denia, a half-hour drive from Benidorm, is drawing comparisons with Madrid because of the level of contagion over the past fortnight.

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Officials in the Spanish town of Denia have blamed a spike in Covid-19 cases on tourists [/caption]

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The town is near Benidorm – a popular holiday destination for Brits in Spain’s Costa Blanca[/caption]

It currently has 367 cases per 100,000 inhabitants compared to the Spanish capital’s 416 cases per 100,000.

In the last three days alone it has recorded 91 new cases, which beats the previous record of 79 new cases for the three days before the last figure was made public last Friday.

The number of ‘active cases’ now stands at 210 while six people have died from the respiratory disease in the small town.

Nearly half of its 422 cases since the start of the current Covid-19 health crisis, were recorded in the past two weeks.

The number of tourists holidaying in the coastal town is said to have been similar to that of previous summers, leading to a threefold increase in its normal population of just over 40,000.

Today the town’s coronavirus outbreak was being linked to the wave of summer visitors.

Denia’s Security Councillor Cristina Morera said: “The data we have with regards to the consumption of water and rubbish collection shows that, contrary to what we’d been expecting, the level of tourism has not gone down compared to other summers.

“Summer is a time when a lot of people spend time outside, there’s a lot of mobility and this has increased the number of cases.”

Local resident Sole Ferrer told Spanish news website NIUS: “There weren’t many cases before and now we have loads.

“It has to do with the people who have come here from elsewhere and have not respected the rules.”

Regional health chiefs have admitted they are concerned about the situation in Denia, but officials believe the peak of new cases has now been reached and will descend as tourists return home.