CATALAN President Quim Torra has tested positive for coronavirus and has self-isolated in the Casa dels Canonges, his official resident in central Barcelona.

An official statement said Torra and other members of the government would remain “active, determined and decided” in fighting this “very expansive disease”.

Torra said he wanted a lockdown in the town of Igualada extended throughout Catalonia: “The challenge for the country is enormous, and we need to show a more civic attitude, with more solidarity and generosity than ever.

“For that reason I request that all of you self-isolate in solidarity with one another, and I ask the Spanish government to authorise the lockdown plan and measures which we have been sending them since Friday.

“More than 1000 Catalans have already contracted the illness and in the next few days there will be many more of us.”

Torra’s prognosis came after his vice-president, Pere Aragonès, also tested positive for coronavirus over the weekend, along with Catalan Ombudsman Rafael Ribó.

Both are self-isolating.