ARCHIVED - 42,885 new Covid-19 diagnoses and 400 deaths during the last 24 hours across Spain

This is the third time this week that new cases have exceeded 40,000 a day

The Spanish Ministry of Health has reported 42,885 new infections and 400 new deaths for the latest 24 hour period, a slight fall when compared to the 44,357 announced yesterday, but still the third time this week that the 40,000 new diagnoses mark has been exceeded.

Bearing in mind that until this week the highest figure recorded for a 24 hour period was 25,595 positives on October 30th, it’s no surprise that a record level of the accumulated incidence rate at 828 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, 33 points higher than yesterday, has been reached.

Although the epidemic can now be said to be rampaging away in most regions of Spain, it is particularly visible in six regions; Castilla-la Mancha, Castilla y León, Extremadura, Valencian Community, Murcia and La Rioja where the incidence rate exceeds 1,000 cases per 100,000 inhabitants; Extremadura, 1,448 cases, Castilla-La Mancha (1,158), Castilla y León (1,215), Valencian Community (1,245), Murcia (1,333) and La Rioja (1,208).

Situation in hospitals.
It’s unavoidable that hospitals should be facing significant pressure when this level of new diagnoses is reached and in the last 7 days, 7,174 people have been admitted for Covid in Spanish hospitals, 538 in Intensive Care, bringing the total number requiring treatment for more severe cases of coronavirus to 27,462.

The total level of bed occupancy by Covid patients is 21.6%, but the level in intensive care is higher; 37%.

But this is the national average and in some areas the pressure is intense; in La Rioja, this percentage is already 65%, it’s 58% in the Valencian Community, 52% in Melilla and close to 50% in Castilla-la Mancha, Catalonia and Madrid. The maximum risk threshold set by the Health Ministry for ICU occupancy is 25%: only Asturias, Cantabria, Canarias, Ceuta Galicia and Navarra are below this level, although in all areas of the country hospitals are now starting to really feel the pressure.

Fatalities:
This week the total number of fatalities reported by day has risen to 1,411.
However, the methodology used by the Ministry to report its figures means that the actual difference between the number of deaths as of last Friday (53,314) and this Friday (55,441) is actually 2,127.

This system is confusing as it gathers data from the 17 Autonomous Regions on a day by day basis, but as data is verified and all of the details of PCR tests checked within the system, the overall totals of both cases and fatalities increase without any additional information being given, so it is quite normal for the daily figures to include only the cases or deaths “diagnosed within the last 24 hours”, and for the overall total to slowly increase as data is checked and verified.

Regardless of the methodology, this has been the blackest week of the pandemic so far in terms of new cases, hospitalisations and deaths.

Throughout the week the regional governments have been tightening restrictions in an effort to stem the floodgates of the pandemic and further measures announced today include:

Madrid; amplified confinement of 56 basic zones and 25 municipalities from Monday. Curfew modified to 22:00 to 06:00. All establishments must close by 21:00. A maximum of 4 people at a table in the hostelry sector. Social gatherings at home prohibited other than for the residents of a domestic bubble.

The Valencia Region has amplified its restrictions to include a ban on any gatherings in the domestic environment outside of the immediate family unit after reporting yet another record in new contagions.

Cataluña again called for the right to lockdown.

The Basque Country reduced the number of people permitted to meet socially to 4 and imposed a border confinement by municipality.

The Balearic Islands Government has ordered the confinement of the island of Ibiza under the same conditions as the confinement currently decreed in Formentera.

Andalucía reported another record day for new contagions.