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Date Published: 05/01/2022
ARCHIVED - Spain reaches highest Covid incidence in Europe
Despite skyrocketing cases, Spain will not impose any further restrictions
The sixth wave of the pandemic has hit Spain with a vengeance over the Christmas holidays, pushing the 14-day cumulative incidence rate up to 2,433 cases per 100,000 inhabitants. Just a few short weeks ago, Spain was being praised by Brussels for its handling of the vaccination campaign, but today, it has the highest Covid incidence rate of all of Europe, surpassing the UK (2,326), France (1,693), Switzerland (1,550) and neighbouring Portugal (1,208).
Despite the worrying rise in infections, the Spanish government is holding off on implementing national restrictions beyond mandatory mask-wearing, and while the Omicron variant isn’t yet bringing medical professionals to their knees, it is generating a collapse in primary care, with many communities left without the resources to carry out PCR testing. The positivity level has also reached 28.7%, well above the WHO’s recommendation of 5%.
Spain registered a record number of infections on Thursday December 30, but President Sanchez is confident that the return to using a mask outdoors together with the continuing vaccination campaign should be enough to stamp out the sixth wave. This country has now double jabbed 90% of the population and more than a million children between 5 and 11 years have received their first dose.
Although cases continue to skyrocket in the United Kingdom – Tuesday January 4’s daily figure was above 200,000 for the first time ever – Boris Johnson has also confirmed that no further restrictions will be implemented in the immediate future other than what has been included in the country’s ‘plan B’.
Image: Ayto de Cartagena
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