Date Published: 12/02/2021
ARCHIVED - Coronavirus incidence rates drop again across Spain but are still dangerously high
ARCHIVED ARTICLE
513 more fatalities provide a reminder of the need to remain cautious
The daily 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, with the latest set of figures released on Thursday afternoon including 17,853 new cases of Covid-19 across the country.
To put that into perspective, the total represents a 41 per cent decrease in comparison with that of the previous Thursday and is well under half of the numbers which were being reported in the latter part of January, and as a result of the downward trend the national 14-day incidence rate has fallen from 899 cases per 100,000 inhabitants a fortnight ago to 540 on Thursday.
This is still over double the threshold of 250 above which the government classifies the situation as being of “extreme risk”, but whereas in the very recent past that initial target seemed out of reach, it is now beginning to appear attainable. In the Canaries the threshold has not been exceeded during the third wave and the rate in the islands is currently 145, and now there are others among the 17 regions of Spain where the figure is within touching distance: in Cantabria, for example, the latest figure calculated is 273, and in the Balearics 257.
Even in the Comunidad Valenciana, which has the highest Covid incidence rate at 777, the figure has dropped by around half in the last 10 days, and rates are falling all over the country as the anti-pandemic restrictions on socializing and travel finally begin to achieve their desired effect.
Furthermore, as the days go by the reduction in new case numbers is beginning to provide tangible relief for the overstretched hospitals of Spain, and on Thursday the number of Covid patients receiving hospital treatment dropped by more than 1,300 to 23,500 (occupying 18.3 per cent of all available beds). In addition, the number of patients in intensive care units is also starting to decrease, although coronavirus still accounts for over 40 per cent of ICU beds occupied.
All of these indicators provide glimpses of a light at the end of the third-wave tunnel, but the latest bulletin also reports a further 513 Covid-related fatalities, bringing the official death toll since the pandemic reached Spain to 64,217. This highlights the need not to rush into an over-hasty relaxation of the pandemic restrictions, a need underlined on Thursday by Fernando Simón, the Director of the Coordination Centre for Health Alerts and Emergencies, who warns that “this is not over”.
He points out that despite the recent improvement in incidence rates they are still extremely high and that intensive care units are operating at well over their theoretical maximum capacity, and for this reason the de-escalation of restrictions will have to be gradual and closely monitored in order to minimize the possibility of a fourth wave of contagion.
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