Date Published: 08/03/2022
ARCHIVED - Spain moves to twice-weekly pandemic updates: Covid data March 8
Six communities in Spain have registered a slight increase in Covid incidence
In another vote of confidence that Spain is leaving the sixth wave of the pandemic behind, both the national and regional governments have decided to stop providing daily Covid updates from 14 March; the data will instead be released twice-weekly from this date.
The Region of Murcia was the first community to adopt major changes by announcing that it will no longer publish coronavirus data at the weekends and on holidays, as Spain finalises its roadmap to normality. Last week, the government ended the quarantine requirement for Covid close contacts, whether they are vaccinated or not, and despite not setting a firm date, President Sanchez has indicated several times that Spain is almost ready to scrap mask-wearing indoors as the pandemic continues to evolve favourably.
Cumulative incidence rate
Since the last update on Friday, Spain’s 14-day cumulative incidence rate has dropped a further 19 points to stand at 443 cases per 100,000 inhabitants on Monday March 7.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, six communities registered a slight increase in their incidence over seven days during the Carnival celebrations of February 25 to March 1. The regions which have rebounded are the Basque Country, Castilla y Leon, Extremadura, Galicia, Catalonia and the Balearic Islands.
The Canary Islands now has the highest cumulative incidence, with 893 cases, while Castilla-La Mancha is now at the bottom of the list, with 218, closely followed by the Spanish enclave of Melilla (222) and Madrid (249).
The Region of Murcia has dropped well below 500 cases per 100,000 inhabitants this week, while the Valencian Community has dipped under the national average, with 391 cases. Andalucía continues to register one of the lowest figures in the country (275).
The paediatric campaign has once again picked up steam and the result is a plummeting 14-day incidence for children under the age of 11 (down to 363 cases) while uptake remains patchy for young adults between 12 and 19, who again this week have the highest figure (720).
Coronavirus infections
The total number of infections in Spain since the beginning of the pandemic has risen to 11,136,435 after a further 35,997 cases were reported on March 7. Unfortunately, no Covid data was released last Monday due to technical issues and so we can’t compare the weekly figures.
In the last two weeks, 210,339 positive cases have been diagnosed.
Hospitalisations and fatalities
Hospital admissions dropped again over the weekend from 5,693 patients to 5,544, while 810 people are being treated in the country’s ICUs (down from 851 on Friday).
In the last 24 hours, there have been 447 admissions and 357 discharges.
These data show that the number of ward and intensive care beds taken up with Covid patients is continuing to decline: the occupancy rate in hospitals has fallen from 4.59% on Friday to 4.48% on Monday and crucially, ICU occupancy has dropped to 8.88% from 9.31%.
In the last week, 242 people have lost their lives to Covid in Spain, bringing the overall death toll since the start of the health crisis to 100,574.
By communities, Andalucía has registered the most fatalities over the past seven days, with 42, followed by the Valencian Community, with 24.
On Monday March 7, 161 new deaths were recorded across Spain.
Vaccination data
A total of 38,443,970 people over the age of 12 have now been double jabbed, which represents 91.1% of the population. In addition, a further 39,189,566 people, or 92.9%, have had the first dose.
See also: How to get a Covid passport and how to book an appointment for a vaccination or booster dose in Spain
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