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COVID-19

Spain just recorded no daily coronavirus deaths for first time in months

Spain has recorded no coronavirus deaths over the past 24 hours for the first time since the beginning of March, a senior health ministry spokesman said Monday.

Published: 2 June 2020 09:28 CEST
Spain just recorded no daily coronavirus deaths for first time in months
Photo: AFP

“Today we have received no deaths with the date of death from yesterday,” Fernando Simón, head of the Coordination Centre for Health Alerts and Emergencies told journalists. The number of new cases had also fallen, he added.

Spain has recorded new deaths every day since March 3, though the first death there from the virus in fact dates back to February 13.   

It is one of the countries worst hit by the pandemic, having recorded 27,127 deaths from 239,638 cases notified, according to the latest ministry figures Monday.

Spain had become very fast at detecting cases, said Simón.   

But he warned against any failure to respect the existing restrictions on mass gatherings, still in force despite a gradual relaxation of what was one of the world's strictest lockdowns.

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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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