Date Published: 11/01/2021
ARCHIVED - Last week Covid-19 cases in Murcia Region increased by 167 per cent; 1200 new cases reported on Sunday
ARCHIVED ARTICLE
Last week the region reported its highest level of new cases in one week since the pandemic began
On Sunday the Murcia region reported a further 1200 new cases of coronavirus, bringing to a close the worst week for new cases since the pandemic began nearly a year ago.
On Thursday 1,279 new cases were diagnosed and 1,444, on Friday , the number of new cases rocketing by 167% in just one week.
This week alone, 6,620 new cases have been reported in the Murcia region, of which more than half, 3,923, have occurred in the last 72 hours. On Monday, the 4th, the number of active cases in the Region was 4,497, and by Sunday that figure had almost doubled to 8,917. Of particular concern is the high increase in hospital admissions, which has grown from 235 cases on Monday to 401 on Sunday.
The health authority believes that this is just the start of a sudden rise in new cases as we enter the “third wave” and that the peak is still some weeks away.
It’s inevitable that the rapid rise in new cases will translate into a rise in hospitalisations and then deaths, as it has done every time the figures have started to increase, and by Sunday the total number of patients requiring hospital treatment had increased to 400, with 85 in intensive care, a worrying increase of 72% in just one week.
The regional health service is not hiding its concern over this sudden surge in new cases, and is warning that resources will soon be under significant pressure. The intensive care units are now at 70% occupancy and although there are other facilities which can be re-opened to cope with the increase in admissions, these need staffing, and as is the case worldwide, specialist ICU nurses are in short supply due to staff sickness, quarantining and there being a limited number of these specialised staff in the first place.
More than a third of the new infections have been detected in the municipality of Murcia, with 401 new cases and the two other major cities in the region were also badly affected, with 131 in Cartagena, and 81 in Lorca, followed by 60 in Yecla and 52 in Molina of Segura.
The level of positivity in the PCR testing undertaken in the last 24 hours reflects the renewed spread of the virus, the 7,048 tests undertaken yielding a positivity rate of 17%, which is more than three times the rate reported before Christmas.
The R-rate has increased to 1.38, a figure not seen since the end of August when the second wave began.
This brings the number of active cases back to just under 9,000.
On Sunday five further fatalities were reported; 3 women and 2 men aged 59, 90, 86, 94 and 91, two of them from Murcia and one from each of Jumilla, Mazarrón and Moratalla.
Data at a glance:
New positive cases reported in the last 24 hours: 1200
Confirmed cases since the beginning of the outbreak; 67,624
Total number of active cases: 8,917
Patients in home isolation with mild symptoms: 8,516
Total number of hospitalisations: 401
Total number in ICU intensive care units : 85
Total cured: 57,925
Total deaths: 782
R-rate: 1.38