Spain hails large-scale antibody study as a key tool in the fight against the coronavirus
The Spanish government has hailed a large-scale antibody study as a key tool in the fight against the coronavirus, but warned that any premature or irresponsible relaxation of restrictions could have “enormous consequences” given that only 5% of Spaniards have had the disease.
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The study, which involved more than 60,000 people, revealed that around 5% of the population – about 2 million people – had had the coronavirus. It also showed that 33% of those who had caught the virus had not shown any symptoms.
“We think that the seroprevalence test we’ve carried out is the best that’s been done anywhere in the world so far. The most important conclusion we’ve reached is that it is vital to keep acting very prudently when it comes to this illness – there are still a lot of people who haven’t been exposed to the virus,” he said.
Duque said the pronounced geographical variations underscored the need for a region-by-region loosening of restrictions: while Murcia, Melilla, Asturias and the Canary islands showed an infection rate of less than 2%, the proportion rose to more than 10% in the regions of Madrid and Castilla-La Mancha.
“Right now, the only way to act is by making small changes when it comes to relaxing the conditions, by maintaining the distances between people, and by keeping up with the infection precautions,” he added.
“The consequences of acting irresponsibly could be enormous given that we know that only 5% of the population has some degree of immunity against the virus. That means that 95% don’t.”
Duque also dismissed talk of so-called “immunity passports” to allow more freedom of movement to those who had recovered from the disease. The science, he said, simply did not support such a move.
“From a personal scientific point of view, all I can say is that we don’t even know for sure that immunity exists, so we’re very far from all of that. We don’t have scientific information that guarantees that people with the antibodies are immune to future infections. So we’re very far from being able to take legal responsibility for that.”
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