The new year starts on January 1, but in Spain, with its long and unusual Christmas holidays, it doesnât really get going until January 7, once the Three Kings have departed. On January 7, 2020, the lower house of parliament, the Congress of Deputies, swore in Pedro Sánchez as prime minister. That same day, in China, scientists discovered what was causing strange cases of pneumonia in the province of Hubei: a virus similar to the one that caused SARS, a disease that rocked a number of Asian countries in 2003 and disappeared several months later. The script for 2020 changed forever. Back then, no one could have imagined what was soon to arrive: from the biggest pandemic the world has seen in generations, to a vaccine created in record time to eradicate it. Itâs been a year of masks, lockdowns, social distancing, PCR tests and curve-flattening. A year when we could no longer hug one another.
Spainâs coronavirus incidence rate has risen for the fourth day in a row. According to the latest Health Ministry report, released on Wednesday, the 14-day cumulative number of cases per 100,000 inhabitants now stands at 201.16 â the highest figure in nine days. The rise in the incidence rate â which is considered the most accurate measure of the spread of the virus â comes as Spain heads into the Christmas holidays, when more travel and family gatherings are expected to take place.
âIt is an upward trend, as we have seen in the previous days,â said Spanish Health Minister Salvador Illa at a press conference on Wednesday following a meeting of the Inter-Territorial Council of the National Health System, which brings together central and regional healthcare chiefs. At the meeting, the Health Ministry called on regional governments to consider even tighter coronavirus restrictions for the holidays if epidemiological figures keep getting worse. Some region
Spainâs coronavirus incidence rate rose again on Thursday, indicating that there is no longer any doubt that the trend has changed. In 10 regions, the rate is rising and in the remaining nine territories, including the North African exclave cities of Ceuta and Melilla, it has stabilized. In the coming days, the situation may worsen as a result of contagions from last weekâs public holidays, which according to Fernando Simón, the director of the Health Ministryâs Coordination Center for Health Alerts (CCAES), have not yet been reflected in the data. Compounding the situation is the expected rise in cases over the Christmas holiday period, when more travel and gatherings are expected to take place. Speaking at a government press conference on Thursday, Simón warned the upward trend will last until âat leastâ mid-January or the end of January.
The incidence rate of the coronavirus in Spain has risen for the third day in a row. According to the Health Ministry report, released Tuesday evening, the 14-day cumulative number of coronavirus cases per 100,000 now stands at 198.77, up from 193.6 on Monday (which covers figures from Saturday and Sunday) and 189 on Friday. Up until Friday, the coronavirus incidence rate had been on a downward trend for five consecutive weeks. According to the latest Health Ministry report, 10,328 new coronavirus cases were detected on Tuesday and added 388 Covid-19-related deaths to the official toll.
It is still too soon to consider whether these figures indicate an upward trend, according to epidemiologist Pedro Gullón, who explained that delays in notifications due to recent public holidays â data is often released later due to staff shortages on holidays and weekends â may be responsible for the rise in cases. It is also too soon to attribute the rise to last weekâs long week
The spread of the coronavirus in Spain has been on a downward trend for five weeks, but a growing number of indicators suggest that this has now come to an end. If Friday was the first day the incidence rate rose in a month, Monday was the first day since November 2 that the number of coronavirus cases rose with respect to the previous Monday, which covers figures from Saturday and Sunday, as data is not released over the weekend.
Although epidemiologists are cautious and do not like to establish trends until the figures are consolidated, the rise reported by the Spanish Health Ministry on Monday is significant. According to the latest report, 21,309 new coronavirus cases have been registered since Friday, 3,628 more than last Monday and 1,330 more than the Monday before that. The 14-day cumulative number of cases per 100,000 inhabitants has also risen to 193.6, up from 189 on Friday. The hospital occupancy rate of Covid-19 patients has also increased slightly after falling nonstop