ARCHIVED - August 10 Covid update Spain: 102 fatalities but infection rates and ICU patient numbers fall

­­­­­Over 60 per cent of the Spanish population are fully vaccinated against Covid-19 while 70 per cent have received their first vaccine doses

The latest daily coronavirus update published by Spain’s Ministry of Health on Tuesday evening reports another significant drop in the national 14-day incidence rate, with the confirmation of 15,680 new cases the day before leading to a figure of 528 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, a drop of around 25 per cent since the peak of the fifth wave of contagion a fortnight ago.

In addition, the 7-day rate is again under half the 14-day figure at 215, indicating that there will most likely be further decreases over the next few days.

While this is undoubtedly good news it cannot be denied that the rate is still extremely high - well over double the “extreme risk” threshold of 250 – and at the same time the 7-day PCR testing positivity rate of 13.8 per cent is still far higher than the target of 5 per cent set by the WHO as the threshold below which the pandemic can be viewed as being under control.

All of the country’s 17 regions remain significantly above the “extreme risk” threshold in terms of the 14-day rate, with the highest figures being reported in the Balearics (723), La Rioja (640), Navarra (613) and Madrid (600), while at the other end of the scale are Asturias (319.5), Murcia (437), the Canaries (439) and the Comunidad Valenciana (453), along with the north African enclave of Ceuta (357).

The gaps among figures for different regions are becoming less and less significant, and the same is the case for different age groups in Spain, although the numbers are still highest among teenagers and young adults who have not been fully vaccinated against Covid-19. The Tuesday breakdown of incidence rates by age groups is as follows:

Age 0-11: 521

Age 12-19: 1,155

Age 20-29: 1,130

Age 30-39: 590

Age 40-49: 369

Age 50-59: 322

Age 60-69: 284

Age 70-79: 220

Age 80+: 292

All of these figures are lower than in the previous daily bulletin published on Monday.

Hospital patients and fatalities

Now that case numbers have been falling for around 10 days it seems that the number of Covid patients receiving hospital treatment might be starting to follow suit. The latest bulletin reports another 102 Covid-related fatalities were added to the toll since the start of the pandemic, taking the official Ministry total to 82,227, but the number of hospital beds occupied by Covid positives dropped by over 400 to 10,001, accounting for 8.5 per cent of occupied hospital beds.

Similarly, the number of Covid patients in intensive care dropped back below 2,000 (1,987, accounting for 21.54 per cent of available beds). On the other hand, in Catalunya the proportion in ICUs is still alarmingly high at 48.4 per cent (well above the “extreme risk” threshold of 25 per cent), and Madrid falls into the same category with a figure of 31 per cent.

Vaccination data

Following the administration of another 320,000 doses on Monday the number of people in Spain who are fully vaccinated against coronavirus has reached 28,768,777, equivalent to 60.6 per cent of the population.

33,575,961 people have received at least one vaccine dose, equivalent to 70.8 per cent of the population.

Significant progress is now being made in the age groups with most cases being reported – those between 13 and 29. Among teenagers 27.4 per cent have already received their first dose, while in the 20-29 group the equivalent proportion is 61.1 per cent.

Image: @MurciaSalud