80 health workers test positive after Christmas party
Madrid, Dec 7 (EFE).- Eighty health workers tested positive for Covid-19 after attending a staff Christmas party in the southern Spanish city of Malaga last week, authorities reported on Tuesday.
Most of the health workers infected are doctors and nurses working in the intensive care unit at Malaga regional hospital, Carlos Bueno.
All 170 guests at the Christmas lunch had tested negative before attending the event and are fully vaccinated against Covid-19.
The majority of the infected are asymptomatic, with a few showing mild symptoms, health authorities said.
Staff from different departments of the hospital have been redeployed to cover for the missing staff, who are in isolation.
The trade union CSIF has appealed for calm and asked people not to “demonise” health workers who attended the party.
The outbreak comes as Spain is recording an increase in coronavirus cases, prompting some regions to increase restrictions ahead of Christmas holidays and colder winter months.
On Tuesday, vaccination for children in the 5 to 11 age group, some 3.3 million kids in Spain, was approved and will start on December 13.
The vaccination of this age group aims to reduce the burden of the coronavirus disease in children and transmission in the family environment, schools and community.
Some 74% of the total population in Spain has received the full course of the Covid-19 vaccine. EFE
