ARCHIVED - 14-day Covid incidence rate in Spain drops to 168: update 2nd March 2021
The key indicator has dipped below 100 in 4 of the 17 regions of Spain
The latest coronavirus update published by Spain’s Ministry of Health on Tuesday afternoon reports 2,662 confirmed new cases across the country, although unusually the cumulative total since Covid was first detected in Europe just over a year ago actually fell, due to a correction of the data collected by the authorities in Catalunya.
After the adjustment of the data the upshot is that the 14-day accumulated incidence rate now stands at 168.4 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, continuing the decrease which began in late January and early February after the third wave of infection in the early part of the year. All of the 17 regions bar Madrid (with a rate of 273.4) are below the threshold of 250 which marks the “extreme risk” level, and at the other end of the scale figures of below 100 are reported in Extremadura (51.2), the Balearics (74.4), La Rioja (78.3) and Murcia (91.7).
However, in the north African enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla the situation is still one of extreme risk, with rates of 264 and 368 respectively.
As the rate of contagion continues to slow, so too it also seems that the number of fatalities is showing signs of a significant decrease. The latest bulletin reports another 192 deaths, bringing the official Ministry total since the start of the pandemic up to 69,801 (although other data sources suggest that the “real” figure is substantially higher, possibly in the region of 90,000).
Similarly, the over-stretching of hospital resources continues to lessen, and the proportion of hospital beds occupied by Covid has now dropped to 8.9 per cent. In intensive care units the index is far higher at 27 per cent, with 2,796 coronavirus sufferers currently in ICUs, but again the downward curve is being maintained and while in Madrid over 40 per cent of ICU beds are occupied by Covid patients the proportion is as low as 10.8 per cent in Extremadura.