Date Published: 25/10/2020
ARCHIVED - Surge in hospitalisations, 704 new cases and 4 deaths; Murcia covid Sunday 25th
ARCHIVED ARTICLE
Hospitalisations increased by 20 further patients
On Sunday Spain moved into a new state of emergency, giving the regional governments the powers they need to impose restrictions without having to constantly seek permission from the courts. Last week the Murcian Government said that it intended to introduce further restrictions this week and the latest figures highlight all too clearly why this is becoming increasingly necessary:
As of Sunday, the Murcia region has 10,312 active cases of coronavirus, the total cases diagnosed to date passing the 33,000 mark to reach 33,006 cases.
704 new cases have been diagnosed within the last 24 hours: 292 correspond to the municipality of Murcia, 45 to Molina de Segura, 41 to Cartagena, 27 to Torre Pacheco, 21 to Caravaca de la Cruz, 21 to San Javier, 20 to Cieza, 19 to Alcantarilla, 19 to Las Torres de Cotillas, 17 to Beniel, 17 to Yecla, 14 to Alhama de Murcia, 13 to Moratalla, 13 to San Pedro del Pinatar, 12 to Archena, 12 to Ceutí, 12 to Mula, 8 to Fortuna, 6 to Abarán, 6 to Bullas, and 6 to Santomera. The remainder are distributed amongst the remaining municipalities of the region in smaller quantities.
There have been less PCR tests carried out in the last 24 hours than on previous days, but this is normal for a weekend, although the level of positivity remains high at 15%, showing just how widespread the virus is.
Fatalities:
There have been four fatalities in the last 24 hours; three males and one female, aged 94,89,88 and 84, from Águilas, Totana, Cartagena and Molina de Segura, their deaths bringing the total to date in the region up to 289.
Hospitalisations:
The major concern in the regional health authority is the rising number of patients requiring hospital treatment. In the last 24 hours a further 20 patients have been admitted with severe cases of covid, bringing the total up to 447, another new record level.
Four patients have been admitted to intensive care and this figure is now 81, the highest level yet reached in the pandemic.
The regional health authority had warned on Saturday that should the numbers of cases continue to rise this could lead to the collapse of the health service, and obviously, this is the reason why more stringent restrictions are being reduced, due to the pressure this level of admissions places on the hospital facilities within the region.
The Reina Sofía hospital is preparing a third floor for patients with covid
The Reina Sofía hospital in Murcia is moving non-covid patients into different areas of the hospital in order to create a third covid floor exclusively for covid patients.
Due to the virulence of the virus it is not possible to locate covid patients in the same area as other patients, so covid patients are treated in specially created isolated wards.
The hospital is creating a third area on the fifth floor, which will be added to the seventh right and sixth right floors that are currently reserved for these patients.
The director of the Reina Sofía warned that isolating a hospital floor for covid patients means that other treatments will have to be suspended.
The hospital is currently working within its capacity, but is starting to feel the strain of the additional covid patients which require significant resource.
Recoveries.
20,699 patients have now recovered from the virus.
Cases in schools:
In the last day, 33 more cases were reported in the region’s schools, bringing the total number of people in quarantine to almost 1,900. The total number of teachers in isolation is now 201 (470 minus 269 who have already returned to classrooms after serving quarantine, 0.74% of the total, while the number of students in quarantine is 1,684 (4,302 minus 2,618 who have already returned to the classrooms after completing quarantine), 0.60% of the global number.