A Spanish family including 11 children have been placed in strict isolation in their Valladolid home in northwest Spain after contracting COVID-19.

Doctors have warned that the viral load of the family is so high that they must keep indoors for two weeks lest they cause a mass spread.

“The doctor told us that we will have to stay at least two more weeks on an absolute lockdown because of the viral load that we have. If we go out and take it out, we could start a source in Valladolid,” Father Jose Maria Cebrian told local media.

He added: “The children fell one by one. Some of them got over it better and some of them a bit worse.

“As the virus takes five or six days to show up, when you feel bad, you start to recall and then you think ‘ok!

“In our case, they (the children) are sick one day, they have a headache, they vomit and after vomiting, they feel better. The day after, they don’t even remember.”

The children are aged between one and 15 years.

They have all been in isolation since testing positive on March 14, the day Spain announced it was extending its state of alarm.

The country has recorded more than 117,000 coronavirus cases and nearly 11,000 deaths.

Local media said that the family is relying on relatives and their 14-year-old son to help them deal with the situation.

Their son is only allowed to go out to the pharmacy so long as he wears a face mask and gloves.

Cebrian also said: “He is the only one who goes out a bit. I take out the rubbish and he is the messenger. When we get our groceries delivered they leave it in the garage and my son goes down to pick it up.

“Our siblings are in Valladolid and our loving mothers, the grandmothers, who do not stop cooking, asking and bringing things.” (The Nation/Agency Report)

Update news