The first stage of tests for seroprevalence for Covid 19 were carried out from April 27th to May 11th in all of Spain. The candidates for the tests were selected with the help of the Spanish Institute of Statistics to get a realistic sample of the population. This is only the first stage of these tests which are planned to last 9 weeks whereby two weeks testing will be followed by a week where all data is complied and then it returns to two more weeks of testing.

A total of 60,983 people have taken part in this stage of the test and these were selected from a selection of 102,803 people and 35,893 homes.

The results confirm that 5% of the population have antibodies for Covid 19 and this immunity is similar amongst male and females however it is lower amongst babies, children, and young adults. The ministry for health had expected that Spain did not have herd immunity which is expected to be achieved when numbers reach 60%. The reality is that 95% of the population are still at risk to catching Covid-19 while the 5% who have antibodies must also be careful. Please take a look at the map below to see the percentages per province.

The following is purely my opinion on what was published yesterday and reason I think Huelva has such a low percentage. Huelva according to confirmed test has had 510 confirmed cases which if we take the percentage attributed to Huelva of 1.5% that would mean that the real figure should be 7,799, so the real figure is 15 times more (taking population of Huelva as 519,932). Similarly, in Spain as a whole we have 228,691 confirmed cases and at an average of 5% this would give a figure of 2,347,000, so the real figure is 10 times more (taking population of Spain as 46.94 million).

Huelva has the lowest levels in mainland Spain along with Murcia (1.4%). Huelva also has the lowest mortality rate in all of Andalusia. The geographical position of Huelva and the natural borders have all helped stop the spread. Huelva has a limited rail network and nearly all transport is by road or sea. There is no airport in Huelva for people to fly into. The Guadiana River gives a natural border with Portugal. The Portuguese have also been remarkably effective in controlling Covid-19 spread. Huelva and Cadiz are the only two provinces in all of Spain that are neighbours but there is not a single road connecting the two provinces. Huelva has the third biggest national Park in Spain (Doñana National Park which is 54,521 hectares) as well as having numerous protected marshlands along the coast (Isla Cristina, Rio Piedras, Laguna de Portil, Odiel to name just a few). So basically 30% of all the land in Huelva is protected. Finally the average age in Huelva is one of the lowest at 39.6 years while the national average is 43.4 years. All of these factors have helped keep the spread of Covid19 low in Huelva and this is not forgetting the most important factor that people have stayed at home and adhered to the social distancing rules.