Coronavirus tests confirm 5.2 pct of Spaniards have antibodies

MADRID, July 6 (Xinhua)-- Results from the third and final round of wide-ranging tests to assess how many people in Spain have been infected with the coronavirus show that just 5.2 percent of the population has developed antibodies to the virus.

The results differ very little from the first test, the findings of which were published by the Spanish Health Ministry on May 13. It showed that five percent of the population had developed antibodies.

The tests were carried out on a representative sample of almost 69,000 people in areas all over Spain.

The results show that health service workers are more likely to be infected than other workers, with 10 percent of them testing positive for antibodies, while this figure stood at seven percent among workers in care homes for the elderly.

There are also important regional variations, with some of Spain's provinces (all in the center of the country) affected much more than others. The province of Soria was the worst affected with 14.4 percent of residents testing positive, while this rate was 12.4 percent for the region of Segovia, just north of Madrid.

In Madrid, the capital, 11.7 percent of the inhabitants tested positive, and the infection rates were 11.4 percent in the regions of Cuenca and 10.8 percent in Albacete.

The rates of people with COVID-19 antibodies are markedly lower elsewhere in Spain -- just 1.2 percent in Huelva, 1.6 percent in the provinces of Cadiz and Almeria in the south and 1.9 percent in the northern community of Asturias.

The results showed no significant differences between male and female patients, and other factors, such as education levels or the number of people living together, also had no significant bearing on the infection rates.

According to the latest data published by the Spanish Health Ministry, Spain has tallied 28,385 deaths from COVID-19 and 250,545 confirmed cases.