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Date Published: 30/12/2021
ARCHIVED - Spain Covid update December 29: daily cases exceed 100,000 for first time ever
Hospital pressure continues to rise gradually in Spain but has not reached crisis point
The coronavirus pandemic is evolving on a daily basis in Spain this Christmas but unfortunately, the trend continues to be largely negative, with the one small exception being that hospitals and ICUs have yet to reach an all-out crisis point. Nevertheless, another macabre record has been broken on Wednesday December 29 as more than 100,000 infections were reported, the highest daily figure ever.
The devastating situation is not limited to Spain, as globally, 1.35 million Covid cases were reported in the last 24 hours, a daily number never seen before and one that exceeds the previous record by a staggering 40%.
Cumulative incidence rate
The all-important 14-day figure has topped out at 1,508.39 cases per 100,000 inhabitants on December 29, rising 148 points in just 24 hours.
By autonomous communities, Navarra maintains the highest incidence, exceeding 3,000 cases, followed by La Rioja (2537) and the Basque Country (2341). On the other hand, Andalucia has the lowest level in Spain with 976 cases per 100,000 inhabitants but this figure is also steadily rising.
The Region of Murcia and the Valencian Community remain below the national average, with 1,359 and 1,082 cases respectively (December 29).
Those aged between 20 and 29 continue to have the highest cumulative incidence rate at 2,484 cases per 100,000, having pushed the under 11s off the top spot this week.
Coronavirus infections
The autonomous communities have notified 100,760 new Covid cases, 59,867 of which were diagnosed in the last 24 hours. This is a huge increase on the 60,041 positives registered on the same day last week. This brings the overall number of infections since the beginning of the pandemic to 6,133,057.
The autonomous communities of Aragon, Galicia, Navarra, the Basque Country, Andalucia, Cantabria and Murcia have broken records with 5,760, 5,662, 3,500, 11,712, 13,344, 1,425 and 3,366 new cases, respectively.
In the past two weeks, a total of 715,741 infections have been registered in Spain.
Hospitalisations
There are currently 10,411 patients admitted to hospitals with Covid (up from 9,852 yesterday) while 1,773 are being treated for more serious cases in the ICU (up from 1,736). Overall, 8.51% of hospital beds are now taken by coronavirus patients while the ICU occupancy rate has also risen slightly to 19.1%.
These data indicate that, while hospital pressure is rising, it is doing so at a slower pace than in previous pandemic waves.
Fatalities
A further 78 deaths have been reported by the Ministry of Health compared with 50 on the same day last week, bringing the total death toll in Spain since the beginning of the health crisis to 89,331.
In the last week alone, 271 Covid-positive patients have died.
Vaccination data
As can be expected, the vaccination campaign has slowed down slightly over the holidays. As of Wednesday, 92% of those aged over 12 have received their first dose (38,756,096 people) while 89.9%, or 37,865,247 people, are now double jabbed.
To date, 13,411,776 booster doses have been administered while 863,774 children between the ages of 5 and 11 have by now received their first vaccinations.
Image: Ximo Puig Twitter
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