MADRID – With the end of the State of Alert in sight and thus an end to the restrictive measures in Spain, everyone is eagerly looking forward to the new normal after May 9. But what is the state of affairs regarding the coronavirus in Spain now?
The Spanish government has already indicated that it has no intention of renewing the State of Alert. However, everything depends on the epidemiological situation in the country. Moreover, various autonomous regions are looking at their options to be able to impose measures, depending on the figures.
If the State of Alert ends on May 9, Spaniards will be able to travel all over their country again. Resulting in a possible reboot for national tourism. In particular, reservations to the Canary Islands and the Balearic Islands have increased significantly in recent weeks. As a result, airlines have doubled their flights from mid-May and reservations to the Canary Islands are up 122%.
Last Saturday, Portugal opened the border with Spain. Although, it was already possible to fly between the two countries, with all the associated test requirements. However, the borders are open once again to road traffic.
Vaccination campaign
Furthermore, 17.6 million vaccine doses were delivered by the end of April, according to data from the Ministry of Health. Of these, 16.4 million have been administered and 4.7 million people have received their full vaccination. 9.9% of the population is fully vaccinated and 24.6% has received at least 1 dose. Of the people over 60 in Spain, 72% have received 1 dose and 27.8% have been fully vaccinated. Last Thursday, a record number of vaccinations was set with more than 481,000. And on May 3 that record was broken again with more than 500,000 vaccinations administered.
The goal, reiterated by the government, is to have 70% of the Spanish population immunised by the end of summer. The president of the government, Pedro Sánchez, has insisted that this goal is still possible, and has confirmed that 33 million people will have been vaccinated in Spain by the end of August. He even announced that five million people will be reached with a completed vaccination by the week of May 4. Then ten million by the end of June and 25 million by mid-July.
Incidence rates of coronavirus in Spain
The accumulated virus incidence over 14 days per 100,000 persons for Spain is 197. This figure from the Ministry of Health (as of April 29, last available) still differs considerably by region and province. The provinces with the highest incidence are:
- Gipuzkoa 559.72
- Lleida 446.05
- Vizcaya 356.74
- Girona 339.93
- Granada 334.65
- Madrid 334.53
- Guadalajara 327.82.
The provinces with the best figures are:
- Alicante with 25.56
- Valencia 38.56
- Albacete 43.28
- Lugo 56.13
- Ourense 68.26
- A Coruña 78.47
- Castellon 70.52
- Málaga 108.56.
In all cases, the accumulated incidence measured over 7 days per 100,000 subjects indicates that the incidence is decreasing.
The reproduction number (R) for all of Spain is below 1 with 0.97. The reproduction number shows how quickly the virus is spreading. With an R-value above 1, the number of new infections increases. This is the case in the Spanish regions of Cantabria 1.02, Catalonia 1.12, Valencia 1.07, Murcia 1.05, Basque Country 1.03 and La Rioja 1.06. In all other regions, the R is below 1.
Variants
The British variant (B.1.1.7) of the coronavirus is dominant throughout Spain. In addition, the South African variant (B.1.351) and the Brazilian variant P.1 also occur. The British variant shows an upward trend in Catalonia, Castile La Mancha, Castile y León, Madrid, Melilla and Navarra. In other regions, the number of infections with this variant is decreasing.
RTVE reported 9,135 new cases and 136 deaths with the corona virus on Friday. The daily number of reported new corona cases is decreasing, the same applies to the daily number of admissions of people with coorona and the daily number of deaths. However, there is still an increased risk in hospitals due to the high number of corona patients in the ICs.
