Spain Infection Rate Falls Again As Vulnerable Set For Third Jab

The government´s latest official figures for the number of Covid-19 infections show a continuing drop reaching a post summer low of just over 100 infected people for every 100,000 inhabitants.

The Health Ministry also reported 3,723 new infections yesterday, as well as 90 Covid-19 fatalities to the overall death toll.

The figures have been steadily dropping since the summer when they hit a peak at the end of July with 677 cases per 100,000 inhabitants.

There were 1,097 patients in intensive care, representing 12% of the country´s available ICU beds.

The percentage of normal hospital beds occupied by Covid-19 patients also fell slightly, to just 3.7%.

Madrid´s incident rate is slightly higher the national average at 144 per 100,000 inhabitants but the incidence rate is slowling markedly with just 44 per 100,000 infections recorded in the last 7 days.

The welcome news is due to the success of the country´s vaccination programme which to date has seen 37,303,202 people given at least one dose, representing 78.6% of the total population.

In addition some 35,571,661 people are deemed to be fully vaccinated, which represents 75.0% of the total population.

Since the pandemic started, 18 months ago, Spain has recorded 4,922,249 cases of the coronavirus of whom 85,638 have died.

In a press conference yesterday, Wednesday 15th, the Spanish Health Minister, Carolina Darias, said that the country´s regional health authorities would be rolling out a 3rd “booster” jab for the elderly and those vulnerable groups who are at most risk from October 4th.

Those groups include those with serious medical conditions such as cancer patients and those undergoing long term treatment.