Spanish pharmacies sold a total of 1,081,554 antigen tests against Covid-19 in the week of July 26 to August 1, the second in which they were available without a prescription. In the case of the Canary Islands, sales reached 27,362 tests, according to data from the IQVIA consultancy.
Thus, sales of these products increased by up to 637 percent throughout that week compared to when a medical prescription was still needed to access them. Over-the-counter sales officially began in Spain on July 21, after being published in the Official State Gazette and approved the day before in the Council of Ministers.
Catalonia is the autonomous community that leads the acquisition of this type of diagnostic tests against Covid-19, with 212,369 in the second week since the start of over-the-counter sales. In fact, it concentrates 29.4 percent of total sales in Spain in the accumulated of the year.
From July 26 to August 1, it is followed by Andalusia (207,074), Madrid (148,044), Valencian Community (115,912), Galicia (91,039), Basque Country (50,028), Castilla y León (48,676), Castilla-La Mancha (36,457), Balearic Islands (30,985), Aragon (28,324), Canary Islands (27,362), Asturias (18,349), Murcia (17,550), Cantabria (14,707), Extremadura (13,047), La Rioja (11,225) and Navarra (10,404).
Thus, after this intensive purchase by the Spanish, the 'stock' after that second week stood at 1,371,019 nationwide, with a clear preponderance again of Catalonia, with 358,260, followed by Andalusia (260,698).
The report points out that pharmacies have reacted to the high demand by increasing their 'stock' and anticipating a possible breakage. They also indicate that the appearance of new brands of antigen tests has "tripled sales of the same in the accumulated of the year."