Spain's Daily Covid Infections Climb Higher Reports Health Ministry
Health News
Published: 18 November 2021 13:05 CET
Spain's Coronavirus cumulative incidence rate edged higher again on Wednesday reflecting the worsening situation across Europe.
According to the official figures as published by the Ministry of Health, the cumulative incidence rate hit 96.12 per 100,000 inhabitants. This represents a significant increase from Tuesday's figure of 88.65 per 100,000.
Although the numbers are starting to rise again, they are still much lower than those currently being experienced in other EU countries such as Austria where the number of cases is at 1,400 per 100,000 people and the Netherlands where numbers have reached the 900 mark.
There was also an increase in the number of daily infections which increased by 6,667 on Tuesday’s figure. This is in comparison to the previous average of around 4,000 per day.
The additional number of registered infections now brings the country’s total since the pandemic began to 5,067,712.
Hospitalisations
It’s no secret that the Coronavirus pandemic has placed a huge strain on Spanish hospitals. In recent months thanks to the vaccination program, hospital admittance numbers have seen a steady decline, however, there are now signs that this is starting to creep up once again.
On Wednesday, Ministry figures show that there are currently 2,260 people in hospital as a result of COVID-19, occupying a total of 1.82% of beds. This is a significant increase on Tuesday’s figure of 2,164.
The number of people currently receiving intensive care treatment has also increased with 447 taking up 4.9% of ICU beds compared to 427 the previous day.
Sadly, another 30 people reportedly lost their lives to the virus, bringing the official number of deaths since the start of the pandemic to 87,775.
Vaccination Campaign
Spain’s vaccination has been the envy of other European nations and is one of the major factors that the incidence rate has been kept under control. As a result, many of the restrictions which were previously in place have now been abolished.
Wednesday’s official figures show that 37,487,833 people or 89% of the population have now been fully vaccinated against the virus with 38,177,685 people having received at least one dose.
It comes as the country’s leader Pedro Sanchez announced on Wednesday during a visit to Turkey that those over the age of 60 would now be offered a booster jab, expanding the program from the previous age threshold of 70.
In October, Spain started to administer the booster shot to cancer patients, those in nursing homes along with others considered to be more vulnerable to Covid.
“The meeting of the vaccines panel has just ended, and it has been agreed that a third dose of vaccination will be given to health and social-health professionals and for people over 60 years of age," Sanchez told reporters.
Source
https://www.mscbs.gob.es/profesionales/saludPublica/ccayes/alertasActual/nCov/documentos/Actualizacion_505_COVID-19.pdf
https://www.surinenglish.com/spain/sanchez-announces-third-20211118094242-nt.html
https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/spain-expands-booster-shot-programme-covid-19-cases-rise-2021-11-17/
Image Credit: La Moncloa
