Date Published: 05/11/2020
ARCHIVED - 1,600 more coronavirus deaths added to the total in Spain after a statistical review
ARCHIVED ARTICLE
The running total of deaths has now increased to 38,118
The difficulties inherent in providing accurate data concerning the number of coronavirus-related deaths in Spain were illustrated once again on Wednesday, when the running total was suddenly increased by over 1,600 to reach 38,118.
This came about as the result of a change in the methods used to calculate figures by the Ministry of Health, which has substituted the original figures for the period prior to 11th May with a new set of data reported to be “of better quality”. Specifically, the Ministry explains that the data previously used came from “aggregated” figures which were less exact and in which there existed the possibility of duplication and “a lack of important variables”.
In March and April, when the resources of the health services were under extreme pressure, aggregated data were used in order to reduce the amount of paperwork involved, but from 11th May onwards individual reports from each health authority have been re-introduced as the norm.
This is why there is often a delay in publishing the daily figures as each indivicual set of data is checked to ensure the complete data is entered into the national system. This has resulted in a situation whereby a regional health authority may report 1,000 cases, but the daily cases published by the Ministry are only 500, the remaining 500 cases feeding into the main overall total in the subsequent days as data is verified and completed.
From April onwards each regional health service began to update its database in order to compile a more complete picture, and the result is the abrupt increase in the death toll reported on Wednesday: the new additions are patients who died and on whom a positive infection diagnosis was reached, and they join those who passed away after being clinically diagnosed with Covid-19.
It must be highlighted that only cases which have been PCR tested are included in the official Spanish data, the aim being to ensure that the figures are accurate and that non-covid cases cannot be included in the official statistics.
In more detail, the results of this statistical review are that 5,105 more cases and 1,326 deaths have been added to the total relating to the period before 11th May (as well as 297 fatalities after that date), while the number of hospital admissions caused by the pandemic has been reduced by 15,056 overall throughout the pandemic and the overall number of intensive care patients has fallen by 2,185.
Figures for Wednesday
On Wednesday the number of patients diagnosed with a positive case of coronavirus in Spain increased by 25,042 within the last 24 hour period, bringing the overall total to 1,284,408.
The current average rate of infections in Spain throughout the last 14 days is now 528.75 cases per 100,000 inhabitants.
Hospital admissions:
There are currently 20,325 patients admitted to hospitals with coronavirus throughout the country, of which 2,786 remain in an ICU, although in the last 24 hours there have been 2,481 admissions and 2,166 discharges.
In addition, in the last week 4,710 people have been admitted to a hospital as a result of the infection caused by the contagion of the coronavirus and 382 admitted to an ICU. The occupancy rate of beds occupied by coronavirus stands at 16.40 percent and in ICUs at 29.11 percent.
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