The contagion of COVID-19 remains uncontrolled in Spain, with 1.3 million cases diagnosed in the last 14 days and an incidence not seen before, saturated primary health care and a gradual increase in hospitalized patients, although mass vaccination contains the number of serious cases and deaths.
The sixth wave of the infection breaks records throughout the country favored by the expansion of the omicron variant, highly contagious, and the successive Christmas celebrations, which ended this Thursday. However, its effects will take some time to be noticed, the health authorities foresee, when the maximum number of detected cases is reached.
The average incidence per one hundred thousand inhabitants in 14 days exceeds 2,500 cases. Meanwhile, critically ill patients occupy more than 21% of the intensive care beds in the Spanish hospital network, according to the latest data published by the Ministry of Health.
“LIVING WITH COVID-19”
The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, predicted “high” numbers of new infected over the next few days, although he stressed that Spain is better prepared than a year ago. “We are going to have to learn to live (with COVID-19) as we do with many other viruses,” he said.
He added that this growth in infections does not translate into “exponential growth in hospitalizations or ICU admissions,” since most cases “are of asymptomatic people”.
COVID-19 out of control in Spain: Record numbers and saturated primary health care despite contagion higher than ever, a large part of the regions currently apply far fewer socioeconomic constraints or more lax than before, and most consist of limiting certain capacities to avoid crowds or hours of nightlife activities.
The two states of alarm decreed so far in Spain to contain the epidemic (although they were later declared unconstitutional) allowed regional authorities limit people’s mobility and apply curfews.
Now, without a state of alarm, They have to ask the Justice to authorize these measures because they affect people’s freedom, as is the case in Catalonia, where the curfew is applied between 1 at night and 6 in the morning.
MORE VACCINATION, LESS DEATHS
In Spain, a country of 47.5 million inhabitants, 31.5% of children between the ages of 5 and 11 have already received a dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, according to the latest official data, and 86.8% of the population between 12 and 19 years of age have the complete pattern.
More than 80% of the entire population is fully vaccinated. Likewise, people over 40 years old receive a booster dose, which they already have in eight out of ten over 60 years, reported Pedro Sánchez.
Sánchez, 49, received it and defended in Twitter vaccination and prudence, since “they are the best way to fight the virus.”
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Among other results, the incidence of cases is lower at the moment in the older age groups.
The average lethality of the disease in Spain is 1.3%. Previously, it was 4% shortly following the epidemic broke out, which has caused regarding 90,000 deaths, according to health records.