OVIEDO, Spain
Spain’s epidemiological situation continues to deteriorate, with the Ministry of Health reporting a further 30,759 new infections over the weekend and nearly 2,000 more COVID-19 patients hospitalized.
“We have difficult weeks ahead and we must keep our guard up,” Health Minister Salvador Illa said at a news conference on Monday, ruling out a full national closure but adding that he is open to more local measures hard.
The new infections were reported over four days from Thursday to Sunday. Over the previous weekend, which was also extended due to Christmas, the country announced 6,117 fewer new positive items.
On January 1, 15% of coronavirus tests in Spain came back positive – a significant increase compared to Christmas Day when 10% of tests were positive for the virus.
After weeks of sustained rise in disease, active hospitals are now back at levels seen a month ago. More than 11% of Spanish hospital beds and 23% of currently available intensive care units are used by COVID-19 patients.
In Catalonia, it accounts for 35% of ICUs.
Following the dangerous rise in patients and diseases, Catalan health officials announced new rules Monday that take effect Thursday. These include banning people from leaving their urban areas for non-essential purposes and closing supermarkets and malls.
Officials in Aragon on Monday also announced that bars, restaurants and non-essential businesses must close before 8pm, among other restrictions.
The area of Campo de Gibraltar was also restricted over the weekend due to a spike in issues and concerns about the new UK version of the virus, which has been spreading rapidly in Britain’s coastal region of Gibraltar.
On Monday, Madrid banned several more neighborhoods and towns, not allowing people to leave the areas or enter without justification.
Over the weekend, Spain reported another 241 deaths, bringing the official death toll to 51,078.
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