Conservative PP on track to win Andalusia elections, 1.8 million more people get private healthcare in Spain, Spaniard evacuated from cruise ship has hantavirus, the latest data on Spanish rent increases and more news on Tuesday May 12th.
1.8 million more people with private healthcare in Spain
Since the Covid-19 pandemic, an additional 1.8 million people have taken out private health insurance in Spain.
This includes those covered by civil servant mutual insurance schemes.
As a result, the percentage of the Spanish population with private coverage has gone from 23 percent in 2020 to 26 percent in 2025, to a total of 12.8 million.
This is according to data published by the private healthcare sector observatories compiled by Spain’s Institute for the Development and Integration of Healthcare Foundation (IDIS).
Spaniard evacuated from cruise ship has hantavirus
A Spanish passenger evacuated from the disease-stricken MV Hondius cruise ship has tested positive for hantavirus but was not suffering symptoms, Madrid’s health ministry said late on Monday.
The passenger was “placed in isolation at the Gomez Ulla hospital and received a positive result from a PCR test done on his arrival”, the ministry said. It added that the “final results will be known in the coming hours” and the other 13 Spanish evacuees had tested negative for the time being.
New data shows scale of rent increases in Spain over last ten years
Rents rose by 3.5 percent in Spain in 2024, the largest increase since 2019, according to statistics just published by the country’s National Institute of Statistics (INE).
They also show an uninterrupted rise in rental prices over the last decade.
On average, rents have skyrocketed by 22.9 percent over the past ten years in Spain, but there are places where rents have spikes even further, such as Valencia (+36.4 percent), Málaga (+32.7 percent), and Palma de Mallorca (+31.3 percent).
INE’s experimental statistics use data from the Spanish Tax Agency based on personal income tax returns, showing how the price increase in new contracts was 8.8 percent in 2024, more than double the rate at which the rental price increased the previous year. In other words, new tenants got charged particularly high rents.
Conservative PP on track to win Andalusia elections, polls suggest
The Spanish People’s Party (PP) is set to comfortably win the Andalusian elections on Sunday May 17th with 43.3 percent of the vote, according to the poll conducted by 40dB for Spanish radio station Cadena Ser and leading national daily El País.
This would give them between 54 and 57 seats (an absolute majority is 55), compared to the 58 they obtained in 2022.
The Socialist Party (PSOE) would again come in second, but far behind, obtaining 23 percent of the vote and between 27 and 29 seats, compared to the 30 they won four years ago.
Far-right Vox, with 13.8 percent, would only register a slight increase compared to the last Andalusian regional elections and would win between 14 (which they already hold) and 16 seats.
Although this is just a poll, were a similar outcome to play out it in reality it would mean that the centre-right PP would not need to form a government with Vox as it has done in several other regions to obtain an absolute majority.
Bad weather forces hantavirus ship to dock in Canary Islands
Adverse weather conditions will force a ship hit by a deadly hantavirus outbreak and anchored off Spain’s Canary Islands to dock at Tenerife on Monday before evacuations can be completed, the health ministry said.
“The vessel will remain docked for the minimum amount of time necessary to ensure the safety of the passengers and members of the evacuation operation. The measure will allow the cruise ship’s quicker departure for the Netherlands,” the ministry said.
