An outbreak of covid-19 affects around 40 students at the UAB student housing

BarcelonaAn outbreak of covid-19 at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) has so far infected 24 students and 20 more are waiting for the result of their PCR test. As ARA has learned and university sources have confirmed, the Department of Health has informed the university that an outbreak of coronavirus has been detected in UAB's University Village, a residential complex of shared flats which usually houses 2,000 students.

According to the same sources, the UAB will open an investigation to find out the origin of the outbreak and this Thursday or Friday at the latest a screening of the residents of the University Village will be carried out. The students who have tested positive and also those who are waiting for their result are isolating in flats that were left empty at the beginning of the year, precisely in case an outbreak took place on campus. Most of those affected have mild symptoms or are asymptomatic.

This is the first outbreak of this kind to be detected in a Catalan university. Since October, university students have been having online classes, which has generated a lot of unease among the student community. The Government relaxed the measures a little mid-February, however, and first-year students have some face-to-face classes on campus. Some outbreaks had been detected in student residences at the beginning of the year, before virtual teaching was decreed.