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ARCHIVED - Spanish health experts warn of epidemic seventh Covid wave
Rebounding infections across Spain are increasing hospital pressure and resulting in huge delays in primary care
For months the coronavirus pandemic has been pushed to the back of our minds as concerns about the war in Ukraine, rising fuel and electricity prices and potential gas shortages have begged for our attention. Now, with the summer season barely begun Spain is experiencing a worrying rebound in infections that threatens to swamp the medical services once again.
Since the Ministry of Health now only reports health data on people over the age of 60 it’s hard to get a clear picture about what is really happening in our hospitals, but spokesperson for the Spanish Society of Doctors, Lorenzo Armenteros, confirmed that primary care professionals “are seeing patients continuously.”
“It hasn’t reached the levels of the first moments of Omicron, which was an avalanche, but it is at higher figures than those at the end of the sixth wave,” he said.
The profile of infections has also changed, according to the doctor, who explained that the vast majority of Covid cases he is seeing at primary care facilities are aged between 30 and 45. “Older people, 65 and 70, are very cautious,” he said, adding that younger people are now socialising more and travelling further afield.
“The situation right now is an epidemic wave,” the expert warned, explaining that the reality of the situation is masked because all the figures aren’t provided anymore.
“I am diagnosing between five and seven patients daily. The incidence is high,” he added.
The BA.4 and BA.5 Omicron sublineages are sweeping across the country, causing symptoms such as severe coughs, sore throat and fever. These symptoms are pushing more and more younger patients to visit their GPs, resulting in a backlog of three or four days for an appointment.
These delays have caused many people to resort to hospital emergency services and primary care facilities, so it’s really just transferring the burden from one facility to another.
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