High number of visitors attributed to the high number of cases of swine flu on the Canary Islands

The first child to die in Spain from swine flu is also the third death on the Canary Islands from the virus. Speaking at a press conference the head of the health service for the Canary Islands, Mercedes Roldós, said that the high number of cases on the island was due to the high number of visitors to the island at this time of year.

She also said there was no specific reason why 3 of the 12 deaths from swine flu in the whole of Spain have occurred on the Canary Islands. However, she admitted that between 2nd and 8th August the prevalence of cases of swine flu was higher in the Canary Islands and Navarra than in the rest of the country.

Roldós said that this week there were 113.31 cases of swine flu on the island for every 100,000 inhabitants which a high figure is given the average for the rest of the Peninsula.

With 3 deaths already from swine flu on the island of Gran Canaria (830,000 inhabitants) the Canary Islands has suffered the second highest number of deaths from swine flu in the whole of Spain.

There have been 4 deaths in Valencia, 2 in Madrid and 1 death each in Castilla-La Mancha, the Balearic Islands and Catalonia.
The latest death on the islands was an 11 year old girl who died last night. The girl was admitted to the children’s’ hospital on Gran Canaria on 7th August. However, the head of the hospital said that the girl also suffered from chronic underlying health problems.

Last Wednesday a 30 year old man died in hospital in Gran Canaria after suffering respiratory problems complicated by contracting swine flu. The first death on the Islands which occurred on 9th July was a 41 year old man who also suffered from underlying health problems.