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COVID-19

Spain records zero daily coronavirus deaths for second day running

Spain recorded no deaths from the coronavirus for the second day running, the health ministry reported Tuesday, while acknowledging some "discrepancies" in the reported daily figures.

Published: 2 June 2020 20:42 CEST
Spain records zero daily coronavirus deaths for second day running
A woman holding roses sits on the Barceloneta Beach boardwalk in Barcelona. Photo: AFP

The ministry's daily report recorded 34 deaths over the previous week, but none over the previous 24 hours. It was Monday's report on the previous 24 hours that first broke a run of daily reported deaths dating back to March 3.

To date, Spain has recorded a total of 27,127 deaths from the virus, making it one of the worst-hit countries in the world.   

But Fernando Simón, head of the Coordination Centre for Health Alerts and Emergencies, also told journalists of the ongoing concern at “day-to-day discrepancies” in the data — divergences that would be “verified”, he said.

Since the health ministry introduced a new method of tracking cases, inconsistencies have appeared in the data.

But Simón stressed that the priority now was to remain vigilant and to detect new cases as quickly as possible — which they were managing to do, he added.

So far Spain has detected nearly 240,000 cases of the virus.   

Step by step, it is gradually easing what was one of the world's strictest lockdowns imposed to slow the spread of the virus.

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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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