Read news from:
Austria
SHARE
COPY LINK
Paywall free

COVID-19

Spain flattens the curve with coronavirus deaths down for fourth day in a row

Spain saw a fourth consecutive daily drop in the number of coronavirus-related deaths with 637 fatalities recorded over the past 24 hours, official figures showed on Monday.

Published: 6 April 2020 12:37 CEST
Spain flattens the curve with coronavirus deaths down for fourth day in a row
Patients at the temporary hospital located at Madrid's Ifema.

The health ministry said the number, the lowest in 13 days, brought the total number of deaths to 13,055, second only to Italy.   

The number of new infections also slowed, rising 3.3 percent to 135,032, down from a rise of 4.8 percent the day before.

The downward trend, and the flattening of the curve seen in the chart above, is apparent when comparing the data from the last four days. 

Sunday had seen an increase of 6,023 confirmed cases over Saturday – which had seen an increase of 7,026 confirmed cases over Friday. 

The figure for Friday was an increase of 7,472 over Thursday.

Monday's figures showed an increase of 4,273 over the day before. 

In all. 59,662 people across Spain have required hospital treatment for coronavirus and there are currently 6,931 still in intensive care. 

But the number of people who have recovered from covid-19 is steadily rising. By Monday 40,437 people have made a full recovery, with 2,382 cases being recorded as cured in the last 24 hours.

Madrid is still the worst hit region where 5,136, from a total 13,055 across the country, have died.

The full breakdown of data from each region is published in the tweet below. 

 

“These figures confirm again this downwards tendency which we have been observing,” said Maria Jose Sierra of the health ministry's emergencies coordination unit.

With deaths and new infections falling the Spanish government is studying how to gradually ease the lockdown imposed on the country of 47 million people on March 14. It has been extended until April 25th.

The government plans to ramp up testing to be able to isolate people who are infected but not showing symptoms and is mulling requiring all people to wear face masks in public to curb the spread of the disease.

Four Spanish firms are currently producing 245,000 coronavirus tests per week, Foreign Minister Arancha Gonzalez Laya said during a television interview on Monday.

“During the coming weeks we will multiply by three the capacity of our companies to supply the market” with tests, she added.   

As for face masks, the minister said “we will probably all have to learn to use them as a prophylactic, at least until there is a vaccine” against Covid-19.

 

READ ALSO:

 

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