ARCHIVED - Covid mortality in Alicante 75 per cent lower than third wave of the pandemic
ARCHIVED ARTICLE
158 people have died in Alicante province so far this year, compared to 628 in the same period last year
Despite an avalanche of new infections as the sixth wave of the pandemic tightened its hold on Alicante province, largely due to the Omicron variant, Covid-related deaths in January were 75% lower than in 2021 during the devastating third wave.
According to the Regional Ministry of Health, the data show that whilst cases have skyrocketed, the sixth wave has been much less lethal and that the Omicron variant of the virus "generally causes a milder form of the disease".
However, although there have been fewer fatalities, the numbers are still high.
Between December 29 2020 and January 29 2021, 628 people died in the province. Jump forward a year, and between December 28 2021 and Friday January 28, 158 deaths were reported to the health department.
The comparison speaks for itself in terms of severity, the Ministry has stressed, clearly apparent in Alcoy where 115 deaths were recorded in January 2021 in contrast to 10 this month, despite the fact that the health area has one of the highest infection rates in the province with 5,000 cases per 100,000 people.
In the Marina Alta area of Alicante province, the death toll has dropped from 102 in the first four weeks of 2021 to 22, a pattern mirrored in the Sant Joan d'Alacant health department where fatalities fell from 96 to 23.
Elsewhere in the province, the drop in mortality is also evident, but less pronounced.
In addition to the fact that the Omicron variant is less aggressive in terms of symptoms, experts are also attributing the fall in fatalities to the fact that the majority of the province population is vaccinated.
And this, they argue, is why hospital admissions have not reached third wave levels despite the fact the province's 14-day cumulative incidence rate now stands at almost 4.000 cases per 100,000 inhabitants.
But whilst the figures indeed indicate the sixth wave is having a lesser impact on the health system, deaths have spiked over the last few days.
Between Tuesday and Friday of last week (January 25 and 28), deaths were reported in all health departments in the province, something that has rarely occurred since the end of the third wave; in total, 39 deaths in three days.
Between January 15 and 28 there were 89 deaths, compared to 57 in the previous two weeks, which experts warn "serves as a reminder that there is no room for excessive optimism about the situation".
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