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Date Published: 10/12/2021
ARCHIVED - Nightmare before Christmas as Spain hits high risk: Covid update December 9
Spain exceeds the 300-case barrier while intensive care units continue to fill up
The latest wave of the pandemic continues its relentless advance across Spain and the most recent data released by the Ministry of Health on Thursday December 9 show that the country has inevitably reached the high risk category of accumulated incidence of coronavirus, according to the government’s revised traffic light system, by exceeding 300 cases per 100,000 inhabitants.
Covid infections
The Ministry has registered 26,412 new cases of coronavirus this Thursday, 6,808 of which have been diagnosed in the last 24 hours. This is almost 10,000 more cases that were reported on the same day last week (14,500) and brings the total number of infected since the beginning of the pandemic to 5,273,178.
Cumulative incidence rate
With a 14-day incidence rate of 305.57 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, Spain is now firmly in the high risk range, and a figure this high hasn’t been seen since August 24, in the midst of the summer season.
In addition, the 7-day figure is more than half of the 14-day rate at 157.9, an indication that the numbers will continue to rise.
This upward trend is very uneven across communities and age groups, but has worried many regional health authorities enough to impose restrictions, such as introducing the Covid passport.
By communities, Navarra (956), the Basque Country (758) and Aragon (591) are all above the barrier of extreme risk, set at 500 cases per 100,000 inhabitants.
Andalucía now has the lowest rate in the country with just 134 cases and the Region of Murcia remains below the national average with 299. However, infections continue to soar in the Valencian Community and the 14-day figure has now reached 332 cases.
Younger children continue to experience the highest incidence rate, with 533 cases per 100,000, a statistic that the Spanish government is hoping to change once it starts delivering vaccines for those aged between 5 and 11 next week.
Hospitalisations and fatalities
There are currently 5,479 patients admitted for coronavirus through Spain, with 1,041 in the ICU. The bed occupancy rate stands at 4.41% and in intensive care this figures rises to 11.3%, compared to 8% at the beginning of December.
In the last 24 hours, there have been 624 admissions and 278 discharges.
Regarding fatalities, 84 more have been reported on Thursday, exactly double the number as the same day last week, bringing the overall death toll in Spain thus far to 88,321 people.
Vaccination data
The vaccination campaign appears to have lost considerable steam, and despite walk-in vaccination centres popping up all over the country, fewer than 50,000 people have received their second jab in the last 7 days.
Nevertheless, 89.5% of the target population (37,684,831 people) are now fully inoculated while 91.3% (38,465,787 people) have received the first dose.
In addition, 72% of those older than 70 years have already received the booster dose.
A year on...
At the beginning of the third wave, on December 9 2020, the Ministry of Health reported 9,773 infections over a 48 hour period and the 14-day incidence rate stood at 193.2 per 100,000 residents. These figures are both far lower that the numbers registered on the same day a year later. However, this time last year, the ICU occupancy rate was at 22%, double what it is today.
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