2023-05-05 19:23:56
Since the international emergency was declared in 2020 due to the covid-19 pandemic, Spain has gone through seven waves, the last two with a notable reduction in severe cases and mortality due to the high level of hybrid immunity from vaccines and massive infections, that have left, in official figures, 120,924 deaths
The WHO has lifted the international emergency due to the pandemic, declared since January 30, 2020, given the notable reduction in serious cases and deaths globally, that is, after just over three years in which Spain has been immersed in a without end of measures, but with the wild card of the rapid and high vaccination rate compared to other countries.
The president of the Spanish Epidemiology Society (SEE), Óscar Zurriaga, has welcomed the decision of the World Health Organization to end the international emergency due to Covid but has warned that this does not mean that the virus has disappeared, “there are still serious cases and deaths.”
“We all wanted to remove this mental restriction” Zurriaga admitted in an interview with EFE, in which he commented that “having or not the declaration of a pandemic was not an inconvenience for Spain, nor does it change the current moment, nor the actions that are being taking”.
However, he stressed that Covid-19 is a respiratory virus “that is transmitted more efficiently than others and can lead to new spikes” and therefore, he said, “there is still a need for people with symptoms to remain in their houses and wear the mask when they have to interact ”.
Here are some of the milestones of the pandemic.
March 15, 2020: The state of alarm and confinement of the population is declared in the face of the alarming and exponential increase in cases, which in subsequent weeks led to daily records of more than a thousand deaths, the collapse of hospitals and the shortage of medical supplies to deal with the pandemic.
Mandatory masks: From May 21, 2020 for people over the age of six in all closed public spaces and, if the safety distance of two meters cannot be guaranteed, also in open spaces.
Vaccination starts in Spain: The campaign started on December 27, 2020 and it took its first steps slowly, limited by the number of doses received, to gradually accelerate with an aim of having between 15 and 20 million vaccinated with both doses in June 2021 and to 70% of the population in August, a milestone that was reached at least a month later.
Booster Doses: In September 2021 the campaign for the third booster dose began and in the same month of 2022 the fourth, the bivalent one adapted to omicron. In both cases to deal with the forecast spread of the virus in the coming winter months.
Spain exceeds 100,000 deaths in March 2022: In the midst of the decline of the sixth wave by omicron, Spain exceeded one hundred thousand official deaths linked to covid-19.
End of masks outdoors and transport: The measure came into force in April of last year for exteriors and for transport in February, after 1,010 days of obligation at a time when the pandemic was close to its lowest incidence figures, although it has continued to be advisable for people vulnerable or in the presence of symptoms of respiratory infection. Now, it is still mandatory in health centers, social health centers and pharmacies.
Spain reaches maximum incidences in 2022: In the first months of 2022, after the omicron variant landed in Spain, the incidence reached 3,418 cases, but with lower rates of hospital admissions (less than 20% occupancy) and mortality, which were the result of the vaccination campaign, which at that time was running against the current with the inoculation of the booster for the third dose.
Current vaccination rate: In Spain, a total of 105,799,888 doses have been inoculated, with coverage of two doses to more than 39 million inhabitants (92% of the population over 12 years of age) and just over 26.5 million citizens (56% of the population) with three sera, while the inoculation of the fourth dose with bivalent vaccines adapted to the omicron lineages has enjoyed less success among the general population and is enjoyed by 7.7 million citizens over 60 years of age (60 % of the population in this age range).
Covid-19 has shown that health is not possible without science and the result of this in the form of medicines and vaccines. EFE / KAY NIETFELD / POOLThe pandemic in Spain today
The pandemic in Spain has been stabilized since at least November of last year, that is, after the seventh wave of summer, with both hospital and transmission indicators that progressively dropped to record lows for the entire pandemic, even throughout the season. of winter.
They are at 2% hospital occupancy (compared to more than 25% of the worst peaks) and the incidence, which is now measured in people over 59 years of age, barely exceeds 90 cases per hundred thousand inhabitants.
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