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Covid infections quadruple across Spain despite the fine weather
Experts blame a highly contagious new strain of coronavirus for the rapid spread in Spain
Last week, health experts in Spain brought us the disturbing news that, far from having disappeared altogether, Covid-19 had made a comeback and cases across the country had more than tripled. Sadly, the situation is even more dire as we head towards June, despite the recent spell of mild weather we’ve been having.
Although most of us have half forgotten about the coronavirus, the reality is that SARS-CoV-2 continues to evolve and mutate even now and, as specialists have warned, it’s very much here to stay.
This is reflected in the figures from the Acute Respiratory Infection Surveillance System (SiVIRA) of the Carlos III Health Institute. According to the latest report published, with data relating to the week of May 13 to 19, the incidence of Covid is estimated at 27.8 cases per 100,000 inhabitants in primary care. In hospitals there are 1.86 cases per 100,000 inhabitants.
This means that Covid cases have quadrupled throughout Spain in the last month.
If there’s a positive (no pun intended) to be taken from this information, it’s that the majority of patients aren’t becoming seriously ill at the moment, and while neighbourhood GPs might be swamped, the hospitals aren’t under too much pressure.
For its part, the percentage of coronavirus positivity in Spain stands at 6.5%. This means that of every 100 rapid detection tests that are carried out - of the few that are currently done - between six and seven test positive for Covid.
Way back in the beginning, the experts believed that coronavirus could be seasonal and during the first wave, everyone was hopeful that a hot summer would put paid to it. However, Covid has proved us wrong, and it seems that the virus flourishes not in the cold but when social interactions are at their highest.
The president of the Spanish Society of Epidemiology has cautioned that even though the incidence rate is rising, things need to be kept in perspective.
“It has gone from being level to rising a little. It is rising, yes, but from nowhere. The current rate is lower than previous seasons, even lower than last, when no one was talking about the pandemic anymore,” he emphasised.
The Covid strain doing the rounds this wave is BA.2.86, which has been found in 59.62% of people tested in primary care centres. This comes from a complicated mixture of lineages and sublineages of JN.1, the variant that has been dominant since the beginning of the season.
Image: SiVIRA
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