Friday, March 29

Spain pulverizes its record with 161,688 new infections and the incidence shoots up to 1,775 cases


Spain closes 2021, the second year of the coronavirus pandemic, with a sixth wave triggered. Communities have returned to record record numbers this Thursday, with 161,688 new cases reported, well above the 100,760 recorded on Wednesday. The numbers of positives are well above those registered last Christmas, although both mortality and hospitalizations are much lower.

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After the data released in the daily balance of the Ministry of Health, the last of the year, those infected with COVID since the beginning of the pandemic, in March 2020, amount to 6,294,745. Catalonia with 56,278 new cases; Madrid, with 20,994; and Andalusia, 13,501; They are the regions that contribute the highest number of infections this Thursday.



The incidence therefore also continues its upward escalation and now stands at 1,775.27 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, a new maximum for the entire pandemic, after advancing 226.88 points compared to the previous day. Navarra, with 3,810 cases of incidence; La Rioja, with 2,861; and Euskadi, with 2,731; they are the most affected regions.



If the magnifying glass is enlarged by age groups, the drawing is very irregular. People between 20 and 29 count data well above the rest, with a skyrocketing incidence of over 2,880 cases per 100,000 inhabitants. It is followed by the group of 30 to 39, with 2,353 cases. Those over 70 remain with data well below the rest, although with an upward trend, already above 500 cases.



As for the deaths, this Thursday the health authorities have notified 74 new deaths, for the 78 registered on Wednesday. In total, 89,405 people have died from or with coronavirus since the start of the pandemic.

Hospitalizations increase slightly throughout the country and those admitted for COVID are already 10,768. In ICUs, the situation also worsens slightly, reaching an occupancy rate of 19.42% nationwide. Catalonia, with 37.41%, registers the worst panorama in its intensive care beds.

How is the epidemic evolving now?

Evolution of the cases and deaths reported, those hospitalized and those admitted to the ICU each day and the variation in the last 7 days

Source: Ministry of Health

Half of those over 40 already have the booster dose against COVID

50.5%, more than half of those over 40, already have the booster dose of the COVID vaccine. In addition, 87.7% of those over 70 have also received the additional puncture.

Communities are also inoculating a second dose to boost the immunity of those vaccinated with Janssen’s single-dose antidote. 61% of them have already received this second puncture.

In general, 92% of those over 12 years of age have received at least one dose of the vaccine and 89.9% have the full vaccination schedule. Regarding the population as a whole, 81.7% have the first dose and 79.8% are fully immunized.

This month pediatric vaccination began for children between 5 and 11 years old. 26.8% have already received the first dose of the special preparation for children of the Pfizer vaccine, almost 900,000 people.



Two out of every three large cities have more than a thousand cases of incidence

In the last week of 2021, the sixth wave leaves in Spain record numbers of infections since the start of the pandemic. In 2 out of 3 (117 out of 175) large cities the incidence rate exceeds 1,000 cases per 100,000 inhabitants in 14 days; that is, more than 1% of the population is infected every two weeks. In addition, infections have doubled in the vast majority of cities with more than 40,000 inhabitants. An increase closely linked to the arrival of omicron, a more contagious variant than its predecessors, although apparently with less adverse effects.

Source: autonomous communities

The explosive rise in cases is widespread throughout the country. In Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Badajoz and Segovia the incidence is above 3,000 cases. They are followed by Valladolid, Palencia, Sant Cugat de Vallès and Logroño, above 2,500. Throughout the territory, two thirds of the population lives in municipalities where more than 1,000 cases are detected for every 100,000 inhabitants in 14 days.

Although the increase in infections is impacting on healthcare pressure, the figures for hospitalizations, ICU admissions and, above all, deaths, are not comparable to those of previous waves. Just a year ago in Spain, 9,000 cases and 132 deaths were reported on average per day; now, nearly 70,000 cases and 56 deaths. These are some of the results extracted from the analysis carried out by elDiario.es from the data of the Health Departments of the 19 autonomous communities and cities. You can read more details in the methodology.



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