Read news from:
Austria
SHARE
COPY LINK

COVID-19

LATEST: Spain reports 23,000 new virus cases over the weekend

Spain registered more than 23,000 new coronavirus cases over the weekend, representing a slowdown in the infection rate from last week.

Published: 31 August 2020 18:50 CEST
LATEST: Spain reports 23,000 new virus cases over the weekend
Testing being carried out in the Basque Country. Photo:AFP

Health ministry data showed 2,489 new cases were diagnosed in the past 24 hours.

 

The chart above shows the number of infections recorded since the start of the pandemic in Spain while the one below shows in more detail the number since June when confinement ended. 

 

It brings the total number diagnosed since the pandemic hit Spain to 462,858.

The official death toll has risen to 29,094 with 141 Covid-19 deaths recorded in the last week, five people in the last day.

Madrid has recorded the highest number of cases (554), representing 25 percent of cases across Spain, followed by the Basque Country (394), Andalusia (308) and Canary Islands (301).

“These figures are still high, but must be contextualized in a case detection framework, many of which are asymptomatic,” Chief epidemiologist Fernando Simón explained.

READ MORE 'Stay home': Valencia town returns to lockdown after spike in cases

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.

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.” 

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