ARCHIVED - Covid incidence rate in Spain continues to fall despite relaxed restrictions: Covid update May 17
Between Friday and Monday 11,061 new cases and 93 deaths were reported
The daily Covid report published by the Ministry of Health continues to indicate that the incidence of Covid in Spain is steadily falling, despite the relaxation of restrictions following the end of the State of Alarm last weekend.
This weekend was the first full weekend of “liberty” and millions of Spaniards took advantage of their new-found freedom to enjoy a short break at the coast or head to second homes around the country, the hot weather providing the perfect excuse to fill beaches over the weekend.
There were, of course, some who chose to ignore the attempts of regional governments to impose a lower level of restrictions and reports of illegal parties and gatherings were widespread, but in general, most just took the opportunity to enjoy outdoor pursuits and the fabulous weather which saw temperatures reach 37 degrees in some parts of the country.
The 11,061 new cases reported over the weekend took the total since the pandemic began to 3,615,860 and the 93 deaths to 79,432.
Image 2: progression of daily new cases in Spain
The incidence across 14 days has fallen during the weekend to 151 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, a figure that positions Spain on the verge of returning to a "medium" risk level, ie under 150 cases, after almost two months at “extreme risk”.
During the weekend the accumulated incidence rate fell in all of the regions except Murcia and Galicia, which both reported increases of under one per cent in their incidence rates.
Across the country the incidence level over 14 days fell by an average of 6.3 per cent and the seven day rate by 6.9 per cent.
Only the Basque Country remains at 'extreme' risk with an incidence rate of 295 per 100,000 inhabitants across the last 14 days; Madrid has now fallen below the threshold of 250 to 239; Aragón reported 220; Navarra 195 and Cataluña 182. At the other end of the scale is the Valencia region at 29; Balearic Islands 46; Murcia 63, Asturias 71 and Canary Islands 83.
Image 3: Evolution of the virus in the autonomous regions of Spain.
In his Monday press conference, Fernando Simón, director of the CCAES, said that the latest data was "favourable", but pointed out that it is still too early to evaluate whether the relaxation in restrictions "would have an impact on the evolution of the epidemic."
"We cannot rule out an increase in cases associated with these festive gatherings, although each day that passes and each time we vaccinate more of the population there is less probability that these possible increases in cases will have a large impact on the system", the epidemiologist said.
He also indicated that the health authorities had established an incidence level of 150 points across all regions as being the point at which it would be prudent to further relax restrictions, saying: "The evolution is going to be good, it is a matter of identifying the right moment to relax the measures," hinting that "it is very possible that in not too many days the use of masks can be reduced".
Hospitalisations: The trend in hospitalisations is also downward. The week began with an easing in the number of patients in intensive care, with 165 fewer patients admitted than on Friday. This is the second Monday in a row on which the number of hospitalized both in ICU and in general beds has fallen. There are now 6,923 people remaining in hospital wards with more severe cases of Covid-19, of which 1,836 are in intensive care.
On average, 18.7% of the available beds are still occupied by coronavirus patients.