By Alyssa McMurtry
OVIEDO, Spain (AA) - Spain’s Ministry of Health registered 1,361 new coronavirus cases on Thursday, the highest one-day jump registered since May 21.
Since the state of alarm ended in late June, the number of cases in Spain has been consistently growing, with the worse outbreaks currently occurring in the northeastern regions of Aragon and Catalonia.
Spain’s chief epidemiologist said the regions have seen some general “community transmission,” in which cases cannot be traced back to any specific outbreaks.
On Wednesday, Barcelona Mayor Ada Colau said the Catalan government was quickly falling behind in terms of contact tracing.
Today, local officials in Aragon announced that they will warn anyone trying to enter or leave the capital city of Zaragoza – home to nearly one million people – of the local COVID-19 outbreak and risks of contracting or spreading the disease.
The police will not be able to stop movement and will instead set up “information points.”
Earlier this week, a judge in the Catalan city of Lleida blocked the government’s request to lock down the area. The government was then forced to pass a decree to make the move legal.
Without the national state of alarm, limiting movement and shutting down businesses has proved to be legally complicated.
In a first in Spain, the government of Aragon ordered the culling of more than 90,000 minks on a farm late Wednesday night after 87% of 90 minks were found to have COVID-19.
In total, Spain’s Ministry of Health has confirmed 258,855 cases of COVID-19 in humans and 28,416 deaths – three more than on Wednesday.