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COVID-19

Spain’s GDP to drop by 9 percent in 2020 as Covid-19 lockdown takes its toll

Spain on Friday said that its gross domestic product (GDP) was projected to fall by 9.2 percent in 2020 as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, while the unemployment rate would reach 19 percent.

Published: 1 May 2020 12:22 CEST
Spain's GDP to drop by 9 percent in 2020 as Covid-19 lockdown takes its toll
Spain will need its tourism industry to bounce back to get its economy to recover. Photo: AFP

The GDP outlook was included in a new estimate filed with the European Commission, Finance Minister Nadia Calvino told a news conference.

This compares to two percent growth recorded last year.

Unemployment would jump to 19 percent from 13.8 percent at the end of 2019, Calvino said.

As fiscal income shrinks and Spain boosts spending to help the economy get through the crisis, the budget deficit will increase to 10.34 percent of GDP this year, Budget Minister Maria Jesus Montero said.

The deficit, which had been 2.8 percent of GDP in 2019, was on target this year to become “the biggest deficit since 2012”, she said.

Eurozone rules require members to keep annual deficits to below three percent of GDP.

On Thursday, Spain reported a contraction of 5.2 percent in growth in the first quarter as the coronavirus lockdown paralysed businesses.

Spain — the eurozone's fourth largest economy — had been one of Europe's top economic performers since emerging from a five-year slump in 2013.

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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.

Published: 23 December 2022 10:53 CET
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.” 

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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.

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