Date Published: 16/02/2021
ARCHIVED - Coronavirus case numbers fall sharply across Spain but 702 more fatalities over the weekend
ARCHIVED ARTICLE
The pressure eases on Spanish hospitals as the third wave of Covid infection abates
The regular coronavirus updates issued by Spain’s Ministry of Health continue to show that the third wave of infection which began over the Christmas and New Year holidays is at last dying down, and the latest set of figures released on Monday afternoon include 30,251 new cases of Covid-19 across the country during the weekend.
To put that into perspective, the total for the previous weekend was over 47,000 and the numbers are now far lower than those which were being reported in the latter part of January: as a result of the downward trend the national 14-day incidence rate has fallen from 899 cases per 100,000 inhabitants just over a fortnight ago and 667 seven days ago to 417 in Monday’s Ministry bulletin.
This is still well above the threshold of 250 over which the government classifies the situation as being of “extreme risk”, but nonetheless that initial target is now beginning to appear more and more attainable. In the Canaries the threshold has not been exceeded during the third wave and the rate in the islands is currently 132, and for the first time in weeks the islands are no longer alone in recording infection rates under 250: the latest figures in the Balearics, Cantabria and Extremadura are 187, 223 and 241 respectively, with Murcia and Navarra also dipping below 300.
The highest 14-day incidence rates are now in the regions of Madrid (560), Castilla y León (508) and the Comunidad Valenciana (506), but here too the figures show a vast improvement in comparison with those of three weeks ago.
Furthermore, the reduction in new case numbers is beginning to provide tangible relief for the overstretched hospitals of Spain, and on Monday the number of Covid patients receiving hospital treatment dropped to 21,030 (occupying 16.5 per cent of all available beds). The number of patients in intensive care units is also falling, although coronavirus still accounts for almost 38 per cent of ICU beds occupied and the proportion is over 50 per cent in La Rioja.
All of these indicators provide evidence that the third wave is gradually being overcome but the latest bulletin also reports a further 702 Covid-related fatalities, bringing the official Ministry death toll since the pandemic reached Spain to 65,449. This again highlights the need not to rush into an over-hasty relaxation of the pandemic restrictions, and in presenting the figures Fernando Simón, the Director of the Coordination Centre for Health Alerts and Emergencies, stressed that the situation is still “very bad”.
Sr Simón sets the target 14-day incidence rate at 50 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, and with the vaccination campaign in Spain still struggling to gather momentum he warns that it will be some time before the third wave can be considered to have ended.