ARCHIVED - Covid incidence rates fall in all regions of Spain

The figures are alarmingly high but the devastating third wave seems to be dying down

The latest figures regarding the third wave of the coronavirus pandemic in Spain continue to show signs of improvement after a horrific month of January, although a gradual downward trend in the level of infection and the number of active cases across the country has yet to be matched by fall of sufficient significance in the numbers of patients receiving hospital treatment and in intensive care units to relieve the pressure on health services.

On the positive side, following the confirmation of 29,960 new cases of Covid-19 in the daily update published by the Ministry of Health on Thursday afternoon, the 14-day accumulated incidence rates fell in comparison with the day before in all 17 of Spain’s regions. The drop was minimal in some areas – just 0.1 points in Navarra, for example - but as a result the nationwide figure now stands at 783.25 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, its lowest since 20^th January.

In addition, the number of regions showing rates of over 1,000 was shortened to include only three, the Comunidad Valenciana (1,245), Castilla y León (1,178) and La Rioja (1,160), although on the other hand only in the Canaries (174) is the figure below the threshold of 250 above which the government classifies the situation as being of “extreme risk”.

At the same time the death toll rose on Thursday by 432 – a shocking figure but the lowest since 22^nd January – bringing the official total over the last year to 60,802, and the proportion of hospital beds occupied by coronavirus patients fell slightly to 22.78 per cent (5 per cent lower than a week ago).

However, Covid patients still account for 44.36 per cent of occupied intensive care beds in Spain, and the proportion is above half in La Rioja, Castilla-La Mancha, Castilla y León, the Comunidad Valenciana, Madrid and the north African enclave of Melilla.

In general terms, then, it appears that after the reintroduction of stricter limits on travel and social gatherings in early January the effects are finally filtering through and the situation is improving slightly, albeit from the dire position of a week or ten days ago. But if the rate of improvement continues as it is at present then acceptable levels of contagion will not be reached for another seven or eight weeks or so: this would coincide with the Easter holidays, when it has to be assumed that lessons will have been learned from the third wave of contagion which followed the relaxation of the rules over Christmas and the New Year.