Spain Faces 3rd Wave & Slow Start To Vaccine Rollout

The Spanish Health Minister, Salvador Illa, said today that Spain´s coronavirus data “is bad” with an increased number of cases being reported across the country´s 17 autonomous regions.

The minister said that the pandemic is “worsening” and that “the number of deaths are rising” with the country facing “difficult weeks are ahead”.

He added that the “two tools” to curtail the number of infections were to “limit social contacts and reduce mobility as much as possible”.

After a downward trend for the end of the year the epidemiological situation has worsened since the beginning of the Christmas period.

The Health Ministry´s  figures for the last 14-day cumulative rate per 100,000 has risen to 321 – with Extremadura, the Balearic Islands, Madrid and Catalonia all above 400 and well above the 250-threshold considered one of extreme risk.

There has been a wide variation in the number of vaccines which have been administered in Spain´s 17 autonomous regions with Asturias on 54% and Madrid on 5% of vaccines delivered and administered.

The minister acknowledged the patchy start to vaccine rollout but that the situation is improving and “gathering an acceptable speed.”

He also confirmed that Spain has ordered  additional 600,000 doses of the newly approved Moderna vaccine.

The prime minister,Pedro Sanchez, had earlier pledged that 2.5 million of the country´s vulnerable people would be inoculated by the end of next month.

To date Spain has registered 2,050,360 coronavirus cases of whom 51,874 have died.