SHARE
COPY LINK
Paywall free

COVID-19

Spain sees slight hike in daily coronavirus toll with 430 deaths

Spain saw a slight increase in the daily virus death toll on Tuesday, with 430 people dying in the past 24 hours, health ministry data showed.

Spain sees slight hike in daily coronavirus toll with 430 deaths
healthcare worker of the Medical Emergency Services of Madrid (SUMMA 112) UVI-6 unit visits a suspected covid-19 patient. Photo: AFP

So far, 21,282 people have succumbed to the pandemic in Spain, which has suffered the third-highest number of deaths in the world after the United States and Italy.

Officials say the numbers tend to go up slightly on Tuesdays following a slight delay in receiving data from the regions on deaths that have occurred over the weekend.

On Monday, Spain registered 399 deaths overnight in what was the lowest figure in four weeks.

The number of confirmed cases now stands at 204,178, the second-highest number in the world after the United States which has registered more than 750,000 infections.   


The overall number of hospitalizations (blue), admittance into ICU (yellow) deaths (red) and recoveries (green) are shown in the chart below, which reveals that the curve of the number of hospital admittances is flattening. Data: Ministry of Health.

Medical staff have been particularly exposed in Spain given the lack of protective equipment when the epidemic first took hold, with 31,788 cases among healthcare workers — just over 15 percent of the total, the figures showed. 


The graph shows the total number of confirmed cases across Spain.  Data: Ministry of Health.

But the number of people who have gotten over the disease has also risen with Spain counting 82,518 recoveries.

Spanish health officials believe the epidemic peaked on April 2nd when 950 people died over 24 hours, nearly three weeks after the government imposed a strict lockdown, effectively confining almost 47 million citizens at home to slow the spread of the virus.   

The March 14th lockdown has been twice extended with the government saying it would move for a fresh extension until May 9th, although conditions are to be slightly eased on April 27th to allow children to spend some time outside.

READ MORE: When will it be possible to travel to Spain again? 

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.

COVID-19

Public Health Agency recommends two Covid doses next year for elderly

Sweden's Public Health Agency is recommending that those above the age of 80 should receive two doses of a Covid-19 vaccine a year, once in the spring and once in the autumn, as it shifts towards a longer-term strategy for the virus.

Public Health Agency recommends two Covid doses next year for elderly

In a new recommendation, the agency said that those living in elderly care centres, and those above the age of 80 should from March 1st receive two vaccinations a year, with a six month gap between doses. 

“Elderly people develop a somewhat worse immune defence after vaccination and immunity wanes faster than among young and healthy people,” the agency said. “That means that elderly people have a greater need of booster doses than younger ones. The Swedish Public Health Agency considers, based on the current knowledge, that it will be important even going into the future to have booster doses for the elderly and people in risk groups.” 

READ ALSO: 

People between the ages of 65 and 79 years old and young people with risk factors, such as obesity, diabetes, poor kidney function or high blood pressure, are recommended to take one additional dose per year.

The new vaccination recommendation, which will start to apply from March 1st next year, is only for 2023, Johanna Rubin, the investigator in the agency’s vaccination programme unit, explained. 

She said too much was still unclear about how long protection from vaccination lasted to institute a permanent programme.

“This recommendation applies to 2023. There is not really an abundance of data on how long protection lasts after a booster dose, of course, but this is what we can say for now,” she told the TT newswire. 

It was likely, however, that elderly people would end up being given an annual dose to protect them from any new variants, as has long been the case with influenza.

SHOW COMMENTS