Date Published: 19/01/2021
ARCHIVED - Murcia Region has second highest rate of covid contagions in the country
ARCHIVED ARTICLE Moratalla is the worst affected municipality in the Murcia Region with a 14 day rate of 3750 cases per 100,000
Image1: Junta de Andalucía.
During the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic, the Region of Murcia was consistently at the bottom of the list showing the number of cases per head of population of the 17 Autonomous Regions of Spain.
But that has all changed in the second and now third waves and as of Monday 18th January, Murcia had the second highest rate for the number of cases per 100,000 of population in the country, its figures pushed up by daily rates which exceeded the total number of cases diagnosed during the whole of the first wave, each and every day of last week.
This method of calculation disregards the size of the region and its population, focusing only on how many cases have been diagnosed during a set period of time by percentage of the population, so places all of the regions on an even playing field, regardless of their size.
On Monday, Spain presented its worst weekend totals since the pandemic began, with more than 80,000 new cases diagnosed between Friday and Monday evenings, pushing up this rate, known as the AI rate, to its highest levels ever.
The national average for the whole of Spain over 14 days has climbed to 689 cases per 100,000 of population, its highest level ever, but 7 regions have exceeded that total, amongst them Murcia.
Top of the list is Extremadura, with 1383 cases per 100,000 of population, followed by Murcia with 1081, Castilla la Mancha with 1006, La Rioja with 920, Castilla y León with 910, The Valencia Region with 896 and Madrid at 789.
These are extraordinarily high figures, taking into account that the target to bring the virus under control is 60 cases per 100,000 over 14 days.
However, when we look at the break-down data for the Murcia region, the scale of the problem is quite shocking.
The worst affected municipalities in the Murcia Region are recording the following levels of contagion over 14 days:
Moratalla 3750 per 100,000, Albudeite 3568, Fortuna 3421, Yecla 3220, Mula 2979, Caravaca 2573, Jumilla 2253, Abanilla 2121, Lorqui 1862, Ricote 1819, Alguazas 1556, Torres de Cotillas 1537,La Unión 1508, Murcia 1480 and so on.
Bear in mind, anything over 500 is considered to be extreme risk, and in the Murcia region, every single municipality now falls within this category except Librilla and Aledo, for which reason, bars and restaurants must close and the municipalities are all confined, bar the two small municipalities (Aledo has no cases and Librilla has a rate of 282).
This is now translating into hospital admissions and on Tuesday Murcia reported its highest ever level of Covid-related hospital admissions.