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Spain's Covid infection rate drops to 'medium' risk level for first time since March

The Local Spain
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Spain's Covid infection rate drops to 'medium' risk level for first time since March
A healthcare worker takes off her protective goggles after tending to a coronavirus patient at the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the University Hospital in Igualada on December 1, 2020. - Spain said today it is buying more than 50 million additional doses of Covid-19 vaccines from three different labs, bringing the total number it will acquire to 105 million. Spain has been badly hit by the pandemic, suffering nearly 1.6 million confirmed infections -- the European Union's second-highest number after France -- and more than 45,000 deaths, although that figure only counts those who formally tested positive for Covid-19. (Photo by Pau BARRENA / AFP)

Spain’s fortnightly infection rate has dropped below 150 cases per 100,000 inhabitants for the first time since the country’s fourth wave of the coronavirus began before Easter, Spain’s health ministry has revealed. 

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Spain recorded a national average of 147.5 infections per 100,000 people on Tuesday, moving down from the “high” to the “medium” classification for infection risk set by Spanish and EU health authorities. 

The incidence of the virus has been falling for 21 consecutive days after reaching more than 250 cases per 100,000 people in half of Spain in mid April, the “extreme” risk category.

The graph below reflects Spain’s national fortnightly infection rate since the pandemic began.

 

The weekly infection rate (figures from the past seven days rather than two weeks) show an even lower rate of 60 cases per 100,000 people, with a drop of 6.7 percent from Monday to Tuesday alone.

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By regions, the incidence of the virus has either dropped or remained the same in all regions except for Madrid (+4.4 percent increase), where the infection rate currently stands at 250 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, second only to the Basque Country’s 279 infections per 100,000 inhabitants.

Autonomous communities such as the Valencia region, the Balearics, the Canary Islands, Extremadura, Murcia, Galicia and Asturias all now have infection rates in the “low” risk category, below 100 cases out of 100,000 people over the past 2 weeks.

The Comunitat Valenciana continues to have the lowest incidence of the virus in all of Spain with just 29.6 infections per 100,000.

Spanish epidemiologists had predicted that Spain’s fourth wave of the virus would be less severe than previous ones, and the benefits of a more advanced vaccination campaign are being seen in the drop in deaths and hospitalisations. 

However, the virus is still far from going away. On Tuesday alone, there were almost 4,000 new infections reported at 70 deaths.  

A total of 6,568 people are currently in hospital with coronavirus, 1,774 of whom are in intensive care.

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