First, infections skyrocket, about two weeks later hospitalizations increase and, ultimately, mortality increases.
It is the known evolution of the successive waves of the coronavirus pandemic and the pattern has been repeated now, although the rebound in deaths recorded in the last seven days is notably less than in previous outbreaks, thanks to vaccines.
According to the data offered this afternoon by the Ministry of Health, 98 people have died in Spain from the virus in the last seven days, practically double the 50 weekly deaths reported last Monday or triple the 32 of two weeks ago.
The figures reflect a clear trend, although in absolute terms it is foreseeable that they will be even higher due to the notification delays.
Health, for example, today notified 149 of new deaths compared to Monday (and 47 compared to Friday) due to cases that have been incorporated into the historical series of previous weeks.
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Darias affirms that "everything indicates" that a third dose will be necessary and to be vaccinated every year against the coronavirus
The contagions registered since last Friday have been 61,625, a figure almost identical to the 61,628 of the previous weekend, which illustrates the stabilization phase in which the accumulated incidence of 14 days per 100,000 inhabitants has entered, which stands at all 700 cases. However, this stabilization at the national level hides very disparate trends among the autonomous communities, as explained by the Secretary of State for Health, Silvia Calzón, who appeared on Monday to assess the evolution of the pandemic together with the Secretary General for Digital Health, Alfredo Gonzalez.
In three communities (Catalonia, Castilla y León, and Asturias) the incidence has already started to decrease.
All three are among those that have suffered the greatest hit from the fifth wave to date, while infections continue to grow strongly in practically half of the country's regions.
Especially noteworthy are the cases of Madrid, the Basque Country, Galicia, La Rioja and Murcia, in which the positives have grown by around 50% in the last seven days.
Calzón has highlighted that positivity (the percentage of diagnostic tests that detect the virus in the patient) continues to be high, 16%, and is “especially higher in the groups of 10 to 19 years and 20 to 29, in which stands at 23% ”.
The fifth wave continues to hit hospitals hard, although the secretary of state recalled that the impact "is less than in the previous waves."
There are already 9,384 people hospitalized, 45% more than last week, of which 1,490 are in the ICU (43% more).
Catalonia is by far the community that suffers the greatest healthcare pressure after four weeks with the highest incidence in Spain, which continues to exceed 1,000 cases per 100,000 inhabitants in 14 days in this community.
Catalan hospitals have 44% of their ICU places occupied by covid patients, a percentage that far exceeds 18% in the Balearic Islands and 17% in La Rioja, the next on the list.
Calzón explained that the average age of those admitted continues to decline and is already between "45 and 50 years" in the plant beds and "in the 50 years" in the intensive care units.
During the appearance, Calzón has qualified the statements made by the Minister of Health, Carolina Darias, last Friday, when she stated that “everything points to” that the third dose of the vaccine will be necessary and took it for granted that vaccination against the coronavirus it will end up being annual.
This position went beyond what was approved by regulatory agencies such as the European (EMA) or the United States (FDA).
The secretary of state has indicated that "there is an open scientific debate" and recalled that some countries have begun to administer the third dose to very minority and specific groups, such as the immunosuppressed, but has not gone any further and has closed the matter by pointing out that the ministry is "waiting" for what the scientific evidence points out, which for now does not consider the third prick to be necessary, since current vaccines and guidelines protect citizens against all known variants.
Calzón has also reported that 750,000 doses donated by Spain through the Covax mechanism, participated by the World Health Organization (WHO), "will go to Guatemala, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru and Nicaragua." "These vaccines do not come from those that have already arrived in Spain, but rather from an agreement with the company so that they are destined for these countries" this part of the stocks acquired by the Spanish Government through the centralized purchase of the European Commission.