The Camp Nou has become a small laboratory to try to stop the spread of COVID-19.

Barcelona’s facilities will be a centre for the collection of samples for a study of prevention of new cases of the coronavirus. Dr. Oriol Mitja and Dr. Bonaventura Clotet are in charge of the project.

The trial aims to test the effectiveness of preventive treatment through hydroxychloroquine, a drug used in malaria.

The aim is to test whether people who have come into contact with a positive drug do not develop the disease or do so with mild symptoms.

This study is done in two ways. On the one hand, people with the virus are tracked at home, and on the other hand, those who have come into contact with a positive coronavirus test.

This second group has the option of going to one of the points authorised to take the medication and have samples taken.

For that reason, Barcelona have given up their facilities to locate one of the points of collection, which will be the fourth after the Hospital Germans Trias, the Club Natacio Sabadell and the Meroil gas station on the Meridiana Avenue.

“If the validity of the treatment is verified, it will open an additional avenue to control the epidemic in the world,” Oriol Mitja explained.

“The strategy could reduce community transmission of this new virus, with a large benefit in terms of lives saved.

“It would also lead to changes in preventive isolation and mobility measures, which would reduce the economic impact of the epidemic.”

The trial aims to reach 3,000 people and 1,745 have already signed up.