The incidence in people over 60 years of age grows 14% since Friday

The incidence in people over 60 years of age grows 14% since Friday

A young woman puts on her mask. / CR

The occupation of hospital and ICU beds by patients with covid continues to rise, but Darias appeals to common sense

JM Madrid

At the gates of two massive festivals such as the Sanfermines (this Wednesday the chupinazo) and the Pride parade in Madrid (on Saturday) in addition to dozens of summer celebrations, Spain once again comfortably exceeds the thousand cases of incidence, and returns to the levels of covid infections that were in mid-February, almost five months ago. Driven by two sublineages of the omicron (BA.4 and especially BA.5) that have a high transmission capacity (also in people who have recently had the disease), the cumulative incidence in people over 60 years of age, the only which is measured in the current phase of flu, is found in 1,135 cases per hundred thousand inhabitants, according to the report with the notifications made public this Tuesday by the Ministry of Health. It represents 14% more than those notified last Friday and 35% more than those announced just a week ago. There is a special virulence in those over 80 years of age, an age segment in which the incidence reaches 1,483 cases.

All the autonomous communities, except Andalusia, Asturias, the Valencian Community and Murcia, exceed a thousand incident cases. The data shows that there is a clear and rapid upward trend in infections, which places us at levels similar to the maximums of the third and fifth waves (899 and 700 cases, respectively), but still far from the dramatic figures of last Christmas. , with a sixth wave that exceeded 3,200 cases.

Hospitalizations have also increased. There are 11,586 patients admitted with covid, 1,337 more than last Friday, of which 502 are in the ICU (449 four days ago), which represents an occupation of 9.56% on the floor (8.37% on Friday) and 5.73% in intensive care (5.06%). In the last four days there have been 148 deaths, bringing the total number of deaths from coronavirus to 108,259.

Prudence

Given this scenario, the Minister of Health, Carolina Darias, insisted this Tuesday, at the press conference after the Council of Ministers, on appealing to prudence and common sense in the use of masks indoors when there are many people and not a safe distance can be maintained. The minister has once again left in the hands of the experts of the Vaccine Conference, where the technicians of the Government and the Autonomous Communities are located, the moment to start administering the fourth dose to people over 80 years of age and vulnerable groups. The decision to give this fourth injection has already been made, what is not yet known is when, although it is not likely to be until the fall. Faced with pressure from some regional governments who want to advance the administration of this fourth dose, Darias has insisted that this decision will be made within the Conference. In this sense, the minister welcomed the high percentage of the population vaccinated with the full schedule, which has already reached 92% of the population over 12 years of age.

Source link