Health extends until the 17th the diagnostic control of nationals arriving in the Canary Islands
The Ministry of Health of the Government of the Canary Islands extends one more week, until January 17, the performance of diagnostic tests of Covid-19 for all those people who arrive at any island port or airport from the rest of the national territory.
This was announced this Friday by the regional department in an indication that will be published in the BOC and It will take effect from Monday, January 11.
This system for controlling the transmission of the virus has been active since December 18 and, until January 6, has confirmed the arrival at the Canarian airports of 94,610 passengers from other regions of the country, who had to go through the control point set up by the Canary Islands Health Service (SCS) in the six island aerodromes that operate with domestic flights, where they had to certify a negative result in a test carried out, at most, with 72 hours in advance.
From them, 85% provided a negative test upon arrival -80,877-, and up to 61,850 did not stay in a tourist establishment, since the majority were residents of the Islands who returned home to spend the Christmas holidays, Health has specified.
Those who did not provide a diagnostic test had to remain in isolation until a negative test result was obtained at the destination within 72 hours after arrival.
As resident passengers who traveled with PDIA and were tested in one of the laboratories of the network agreed by the SCS a total of 196 positives were detected (176 by PCR and 20 by antigen test), which is equivalent to a 1% positivity percentage.
Health has also provided a series of data on the results obtained in the network of laboratories agreed by the SCS in different parts of the country: in the Community of Madrid 114 positives were detected in the 6,839 PCR performed, which represents a positivity rate of 1.67%, in Granada a positivity rate of 4.23% was detected, since 21 of the 496 PCR carried out were positive, while in Toledo, with six positives out of the 196 PRCs carried out, the positivity rate was 3.55%.
Device operation
When a passenger arrives in the Canary Islands from another region of the national territory, they must deliver a negative PDIA certificate at the checkpoints established for this purpose by the Ministry of Health at the Canarian airports that receive domestic flights. Travelers carrying out airport transfers between islands must go to the control of the first airport where they disembark to present their negative diagnostic test certificate.
Travelers who did not present the certificate, or that it was not validated, are identified, registered and are summoned to perform isolation until a negative result of a diagnostic test at destination is obtained.
Diagnostic tests of active infection admitted, at the choice of the passenger, are:
- PCR (COVID-19 RT-PCR).
- Rapid detection tests for SARS-CoV-2 antigens with a specificity of more than 97% and a sensitivity of more than 80%, according to the corresponding approval of a country of the European Union or the European Economic Area.
- Transcription Mediated Amplification (TMA).
