The sixth wave pushes to two new records: more than 1,500 cases of incidence and 100,000 new infections in one day

Madrid, which adds 19,811 new cases; Andalusia, which adds 10,579; and Catalonia, with 9,771; They are the communities with the worst data in the last 24 hours.

The incidence also continues to escalate and now reaches 1,508 cases per 100,000 inhabitants. The data clearly exceeds those recorded at the peak of the third wave and also that of the first, although the detection capacity of the virus in March and April 2020 was much lower than the current one. This indicator has risen almost 150 points (147) in one day, slightly below the increase it experienced yesterday.

By age, the incidence continues to rise in the youngest groups, especially in the range of 20 to 29 years, which marks 2,484 infections per 100,000 inhabitants, as well as in the 30 to 39, with 2,033 new cases. The older groups present much lower levels, although also on the rise. Those over 70 are below 420 cases per 100,000 inhabitants.

The Ministry of Health has notified 78 new deaths from or with COVID this Wednesday, bringing the death toll from the pandemic to 89,331.

Hospitalizations continue to rise although at a slower rate. This Tuesday, the 10,000 admitted for COVID have been exceeded for the first time since the beginning of August and the ICUs are already close to 20% occupancy on average. Catalonia registers the worst data with 37.5% of intensive care beds occupied.

One in five children has received the first dose

One in five children between the ages of 5 and 11, more than 863,700 people in this age group, already has the first dose of the COVID vaccine, 25.8% of the total. With the recent authorization of the pediatric vaccine, this age group of 3.35 million people is the last to join the vaccination campaign against the coronavirus.

In total, Spain has administered more than 86.2 million doses in one campaign year, which have served to vaccinate 81.7% of the population with at least the first dose and 79.8% with the full regimen. In addition, 92% of the population over 12 years of age have the first puncture and 89.9% are fully immunized.

Communities are also making progress with the inoculation of booster doses: almost half of those over 40, the age group so far authorized to receive this additional prick, have already received the extra injection. If we bring the magnifying glass closer to the smaller groups, 87.3% of those over 70 have the booster vaccine, as well as 81.3% of those over 60.

The Ministry of Health is also vaccinating those who received the Janssen single dose with a second puncture. 60.3% have already received the second injection of this formula.

Ómicron opens the debate on a phase change in the pandemic: “It is the logical step, but we have to wait”

It’s not all bad news with COVID. Just when the coronavirus is more out of control, when everyone knows someone who has tested positive and records of infected are broken daily, some voices begin to emerge that speak of the end of the pandemic and of the passage of SARS-CoV-2 to endemic, a situation in which a disease is present in society but limits its affection to certain more or less stable cases throughout the year or in specific periods. Like the flu.

At the moment it is speculated as something hypothetical, that it could happen. There are small signs that point in that direction, but it is not yet the time, the epidemiologists consulted agree. There are also socioeconomic elements that are pushing towards this step, such as the reduction of quarantines and isolations in the US that anticipate those that will come here: the wheel has to keep turning.