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ARCHIVED - Decrease in Covid incidence stabilises: Spain update March 11

ARCHIVED ARTICLE

The Ministry of Health in Spain promises that scrapping indoor masks “is getting closer”

<span style='color:#780948'>ARCHIVED</span> - Decrease in Covid incidence stabilises: Spain update March 11

Experts in Spain agree that the “acute phase” of the pandemic is already over, but transitioning to the next stage, one of surveillance and control, will have to wait a little longer; the Public Health Commission is expected to set a date sometime next week but some sources have speculated that this might be as late as 2023.

The government already decided last week that from now on, coronavirus data will only be released twice-weekly rather than on a daily basis, and the new system is likely to rely less on the cumulative incidence rate of the entire population to judge the evolution of the pandemic.

Regarding the use of masks indoors, the Minister of Health, Carolina Darias, stated after yesterday’s meeting that it “is getting closer” but that for now, the measure will remain in place.

“We have to agree not only on when, but also on how,” Ms Darias explained. “When that happens, we will make it known.”

Cumulative incidence rate

The 14-day incidence rate has stabilised on Thursday March 10, only dropping a fraction to 429.71 cases per 100,000 inhabitants in the past 24 hours.

Melilla and Castilla-La Mancha continue to battle it out for the bottom spot, with an incidence of 215.62 and 218.83 cases respectively. They are closely followed by Andalucía, although this community’s incidence rate has actually jumped a few points overnight to 261.79 cases per 100,000.

The Canary Islands have held on to the top spot all week and now stands at 865.19 cases. The Region of Murcia has dropped below the 550-mark while the Valencian Community is now well below the Spanish national average with just 332.91 cases per 100,000 inhabitants.

Coronavirus infections

The autonomous communities have notified the Ministry of Health this Thursday of 22,615 new cases of Covid. These figures are similar to those of the same day last week, when 23,140 positives were reported.

In the past two weeks, 203,620 infections have been registered, bringing the total number of coronavirus cases since the start of the pandemic to 11,204,125.

Hospitalisations and fatalities

There are currently 4,891 people hospitalised for Covid across Spain (down from 5,061 on Wednesday) while 725 patients are being treated for more serious conditions in the country’s ICUs (down from 743).

In the last 24 hours, there have been 468 admissions and 626 discharges.

The occupancy rate of beds stands at 3.94% (4.08% yesterday) while in intensive care this percentage has dropped from 8.15% on Wednesday to 7.95%.

A further 85 Covid-related deaths were registered on March 10, compared to 202 last Thursday, bringing the overall death toll since the health crisis began to 101,077.

Vaccination data

One of the major considerations of Spain’s de-escalation plan will be whether or not to treat Covid like the season flu, and if it makes sense to apply a booster dose each year. The fifth vaccine, Novavax, has just arrived in Spain, and the Hipra serum could begin to be distributed this summer, but already the uptake of jabs appears to have stagnated.

91.9% of the population over the age of 12 is now fully vaccinated, but the needle has barely moved in recent weeks. The third or booster dose experienced immediate success at the beginning of the campaign but as the age groups have been lowered, fewer and fewer people are turning out to get their shots.

According to the Ministry of Health, 79.4% of those over 40 have been triple jabbed, but while 92.6% of people over 70 have had their booster, this figure drops dramatically to 59.6% on the population aged between 40 and 49. The worst uptake is in young adults, 20 to 29 – just 33.6%.

This trend is also being seen in the paediatric vaccination: in the almost three months since the campaign started, only 57.6% of 5 to 11 years olds have been vaccinated, while a meagre 20.1% have received the second dose.

Image: Ayto. Salud Murcia

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