The First Months of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Spain

Abstract

Background: The COVID-19 outbreak has led to an unprecedented crisis in Spain. After Italy, the spread of the virus was quick, and Spain became the second epicenter in Europe by number of cases and deceased. To tackle the outbreak and contain the spread, the Spanish authorities undertook exceptional measures based on a generalized lockdown by which the majority of the economic activity ceased for several weeks. Objectives: The goal of this paper is to examine the spread of COVID-19 in Spain from February to May 2020, as well as the public policies and technologies used to contain the evolution of the pandemic. In particular it aims to assess the effectivity of the policies applied within the different autonomous communities. Methods: Data was collected from various official sources, including government reports, press releases and datasets provided institutions at national and international level. Results: In general, we show that the main measure to contain the spread of the pandemic based on a stringent confinement policy enforced through fines, resulted also in a substantial reduction in the mobility and the economic activity. We also focus on the evolution of the pandemic at a regional level showing that the negative consequences of the crisis affected differently across regions.