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Date Published: 17/09/2021
ARCHIVED - Spain Covid update September 16: incidence rate drops below 100 for first time since June
The positivity rate of Covid tests in Spain has also dropped below the WHO maximum barrier of 5%
The coronavirus pandemic situation in Spain continues to improve and it might just be possible to glimpse light at the end of the tunnel as the data released by the Ministry of Health on Thursday September 16 show that the all-important cumulative incidence rate has at last dropped below 100 cases for the first time since the end of June. It now stands at 96.3 infections per 100,000 habitants, down five from Wednesday, meaning that Spain remains in the medium risk zone. Only the north African enclaves of Melilla and Ceuta continue to have incidences above 200, but in general, every autonomous community has followed the downward trend in the past 24 hours.
Asturias continues to record the lowest number at 31.41 cases followed by the Valencian Community (65.45) and the Canary Islands (73.67). By age group, those under the age of 12, who have the lowest rate of vaccination, also have the highest incidence rate, at 132.40 cases per 100,000 inhabitants.
New infections
On Thursday, 4,075 coronavirus infections were reported, with 1,727 being recorded in the last 24 hours alone. The number of new cases has remained relatively stable all week, moving up or down just a few points, bringing the total number of people infected since the beginning of the pandemic to 4,926,324.
On the other hand, the positivity rate of PCR and antigen tests has now dropped to 4.9%, which is at last below the maximum threshold of 5% set by the World Health Organisation (WHO) to suggest that the pandemic is coming under control.
Hospitalisations and fatalities
Unfortunately, 101 more Covid-related fatalities have been reported, which is an increase of 11 compared to the previous day, taking the overall death toll in Spain up to 85,739.
There are currently 3,947 patients admitted for Covid-19 throughout Spain with 1,058 people being treated for more serious cases in the ICUs, although in the last 24 hours there have been 513 discharges. The pressure on health services is slowly but surely declining, with 3.3% of available hospital beds occupied by coronavirus patients, while the occupancy rate in intensive care has also fallen to 11.6%.
Vaccination data
The vaccination campaign continues in Spain in an effort to double jab as many people aged between 12 and 19 as possible, but the pace has definitely slowed since the beginning of August. Following the administration of 134,618 doses in the past 24 hours, a total of 35,688,441 people are now fully inoculated, representing 75.2% of the population with 37.341.455 people, or 78.7% having received at least one dose.
Yesterday, the Spanish government announced that it would immediately begin administering a third ‘booster’ dose of the coronavirus vaccination to elderly people living in nursing homes as well as to several groups of people suffering with chronic illnesses, such as people with cystic fibrosis or HIV.
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