The president of the Government of Catalonia, Quim Torra, chaired a meeting this evening at the Palau de la Generalitat to review the response to the first case of coronavirus detected in Catalonia.

At the meeting, the Catalan Minister of Health, Alba Vergés, explained the origin and evolution of the new disease, which the World Health Organisation has named Covid-19, and the protocols followed after confirming the first case in Catalonia: a 36-year-old woman who is suffering mild symptoms that do not pose a serious risk to her health. Containment measures are currently being applied. The first Catalan case is not one of community transmission within Catalonia but an imported case. The response has confirmed that the Catalan health system is ready and that protocols are working as they should.

In a meeting of the Executive Council held this morning, a decision was made to activate the Catalan government’s strategy for dealing with emergencies associated with emerging communicable diseases that pose a high risk. The strategy is a tool to support inter-ministerial coordination, facilitate adoption of preventive measures, and share information in order to ensure that the response to any outbreak of communicable disease is as rapid as possible.

Alba Vergés, who heads the ministry responsible for coordinating activities carried out within the framework of the strategy, has convened a meeting of the general secretaries of all Catalan ministries and the secretary of the Executive Council to discuss all issues related to the coronavirus outbreak.