Read news from:
Austria
SHARE
COPY LINK

COVID-19

LATEST: Spain’s coronavirus cases rise again in wake of Christmas gatherings

Spain has reported a record rise in coronavirus infections with the number of new cases measured over the past 14 days soaring to 436 per 100,000 people on Monday, up from 350 on Friday.

Published: 12 January 2021 09:58 CET
LATEST: Spain’s coronavirus cases rise again in wake of Christmas gatherings

Data released by Spain’s health ministry on Monday evening showed more than 61,000 new cases were reported since Friday – representing the largest weekend increase since the start of pandemic.

The cumulative incident rate has risen above 400 cases per 100,000 people over the past 14 days. Data from Health Ministry.

The recorded cumulative total in Spain now stands at 2,111,782.

Deaths rose by 401 over the same period to 52,275.

These graphs show the rise in infections, the number hospitalized, being treated in Intensive Care Units and the number to have died across Spain.

Fernando Simón, Spain’s Health emergency coordinator, blamed the surge on the loosening of restrictions over the Christmas holidays.

“We had a better Christmas than expected and perhaps better than we should have had, and now we are looking at the result,” he told a news conference.

“It’s a problem of people’s behaviour over Christmas.

However he played down the effect of the so-called British strain of the virus, which is more contagious and which has been detected across Spain.

He also rejected the need for a return to lockdown, insisting it was not yet necessary, echoing the message from Spain’s government and Health Ministry.

Several regions have toughened up restrictions since the end of the Christmas holidays including Mallorca and Ibiza which have banned socializing between people of different households and Castilla y Leon which has closed its borders until May.

READ MORE:

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