The Canary Islands will require the covid certificate at airports and leisure activities

These two measures have been taken in response to two circumstances: imported cases and the relationship between infections and the worst vaccinated groups. 10% of the coronavirus cases that have been diagnosed in the Canary Islands are exported, that is, "they have been infected outside the Islands." This 10% is divided proportionally –2% each– between Canaries who were abroad, foreign and peninsular travelers, non-EU travelers, migrants who enter the Canaries irregularly and unknown cases.

The decision to implement the covid certificate is related to the profile of infections. "We have verified that the majority is occurring in the group with the lowest vaccination rates," said Olivera. In this way, infections are concentrated in people between 20 and 49 years old, who have the worst vaccination rates. In these three groups, vaccination rates do not reach 70%. With this measure, the Government wants to encourage this act of "generosity", as Olivera remarked. "Vaccination has consequences in the control of the pandemic and the control of the pandemic is directly related to the socioeconomic evolution of the Islands," he insisted.

While the Government of the Canary Islands continues to seek how to stop infections at Christmas time, the virus does not stop. Yesterday, 275 new cases were recorded in the Archipelago, which is the highest figure since August 21, almost three months ago and a growth in cases of 45% compared to the previous week. By islands, the one that is experiencing the greatest increase in cases is Tenerife. On this island, 97 new positive patients (942 active) were counted yesterday, bringing the number of cases in the last week to 642, 56% more than the previous one. Gran Canaria is growing at a slower rate and, therefore, it accounts for 510 weekly cases. Despite this, in the last two days the increase in new cases has been greater. The last time the islands reported a similar volume of cases with an upward trend was on June 15 for Tenerife and July 6 for Gran Canaria.

The difference between this scenario and the current one is in the hospital pressure. On June 15, with the same number of weekly cases and a similar number of active patients in Tenerife (1,054), but with a lower percentage of the vaccinated population, the number of hospitalized patients was 151 (134 in the ward and 17 in the ICU) . Today, the number of admissions amounts to 99 –34% less than then–, of which 92 are in the ward and only 7 are in the ICU. This represents a reduction in critically ill patients by 31.3% and in critically ill patients by almost 60%. On June 15, only 28.4% of the population in the Canary Islands was protected with two doses of vaccine against the coronavirus, today it is 86.26%. The non-capital islands also maintain an upward trend in infections, with the exception of El Hierro and La Gomera. The island with the highest incidence within 7 days remains Fuerteventura (106.9 cases per 100,000 inhabitants), followed by Lanzarote (80.9 cases per 100,000 inhabitants).

However, and despite the fact that incidence indicators are rising and are found on all the islands –except for El Hierro– at a minimal average risk, this increase is not yet being reflected in hospital saturation. Occupation both in the plant and in the ICU is at low risk, and in the case of Tenerife, La Palma and La Gomera, it is at minimal risk in the plant. In total there are 175 people hospitalized, 20% more than last week and 44% more than 15 days ago. In the last hours, the death of two people has been reported in the Canary Islands, an 85-year-old woman in Gran Canaria and a 60-year-old man in Fuerteventura. Both were in hospital admission and the first of them had previous pathologies.