ARCHIVED - Incidence rate falls to 153 but Health authorities warn against complacency: Spain Covid update 5th March 2021
6,000 new cases and 245 fatalities in the latest daily update as the incidence rate falls by 25 per cent in a week
It is reported that coronavirus incidence rates are currently rising again in most countries belonging to the EU, but the downward trend of the last five weeks continued in Spain on Thursday afternoon with the publication of the latest daily pandemic update by the Ministry of Health.
The Thursday summary reports 6,037 new confirmed cases of Covid-19 and an accumulated 14-day incidence rate across the country of 153.3 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, and with the 7-day rate calculated at 63.8 it appears that the figure will probably continue to fall at least for another few days.
Six of the 17 regions of Spain now report 14-day rates of under 100, with Extremadura, the Balearics, La Rioja, the Comunidad Valenciana and Murcia having been joined by Castilla-La Mancha, and in Extremadura the figure has dipped below 50. At the other end of the scale, though, Madrid remains above the 250 “extreme risk” threshold (although only marginally, at 253.1), and the two north African enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla report rates of 278.4 and 379.3 respectively.
Improvements in the last week
In general, the figures represent good news: a week ago the incidence rate was 206 and daily confirmed cases were running at around 10,000. Furthermore, whereas last Thursday Covid patients accounted for 10.16 per cent of all occupied hospital beds, this week the proportion has dropped to 8.1 per cent, while in intensive care unit the figure has dropped from 29.6 per cent to 25.4 per cent.
However, the death toll continues to rise steadily, and a further 254 fatalities take the official Ministry total to 70,501.
In this context, and in recognizing that the downward trend in infection appears to be flattening out, Fernando Simón, the Director of Spain’s Coordination Centre for Health Alerts and Emergencies, has reiterated his warning about any sense of complacency or an over-hasty relaxation of pandemic restrictions. His sentiments were echoed on Thursday by Silvia Calzón, Secretary of State for Health, who warned that health service resources are still stretched and that despite the gradual increase in the number of people to have been vaccinated, a fourth wave of contagion would be extremely difficult to deal with.
Vaccination data
The latest Ministry update reports that a total of 4.2 million vaccine doses have been administered, with 1.31 million people having received both recommended doses and 1.61 million more having received just the first.
The number of people to have received at least one dose is therefore 2.92 million, equating to just 6.16 per cent of the country’s population.