Catalan president tests positive for COVID-19

OVIEDO, Spain

The president of Spain’s Catalonia region tested positive for coronavirus on Monday amid officials in the region urging it to block itself off from the rest of Spain.

The news of Quim Torra's diagnosis came as the region’s interior minister called for a stricter lockdown in Catalonia, saying Madrid’s strategy has been ineffective. “It’s time to enact real measures,” said Miquel Buch, calling for a perimeter to be built around Catalonia to forbid people from entering or leaving.

Tensions between the separatist-led northeastern region of Spain and the rest of the country have been amplified in recent days, especially since Spain’s state of emergency was enacted on Saturday.

The emergency laws centralized powers and placed all regional governments under the orders of Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s government to coordinate the effort to reduce the virus’s spread.

Separatist politicians slammed the move. Torra, now in quarantine, tweeted on Saturday that he “could not accept the Spanish government confiscating our powers in health, security and transport.”

Spain now reports 9,191 cases and 309 deaths from the virus, around half of which are in Madrid. Catalonia has the second-highest number of cases in Spain – over 900, according to the Spanish Health Ministry.

Clara Ponsanti, a former Catalan minister who fled the country in 2017, was met with widespread social media scorn when she wrote a sarcastic tweet mocking the deaths in Madrid.

For days, the Catalan government has been calling for Madrid to be quarantined. Free movement for all citizens has become severely restricted in Spain, but Madrid hasn’t been specifically blocked off.

Essentially, people are only allowed to leave their homes to go to work or buy necessary products. Most shops and all places of leisure have been closed.