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COVID-19

Spain registers record number of coronavirus cases and blames British strain

Spain registered a record daily number of coronavirus cases on Wednesday, with nearly 39,000 new infections over the past 24 hours, the health ministry said.

Published: 14 January 2021 11:28 CET
Spain registers record number of coronavirus cases and blames British strain
Photo: AFP

A total of 38,869 new cases were recorded since Tuesday and 195 deaths.   

The data showed Spain was in a situation of “very high risk, extreme risk”, said Carolina Darias, minister for territorial policy and civil service.   

The numbers bring the total number of infections in Spain to 2.18 million and the number of fatalities to 52,878 since the start of the pandemic.   

“The pressure is continuing to rise in hospitals,” said Health Minister Salvador Illa, but noted that the number of people being tested for the virus was also increasing.

The spiralling contagion has been broadly blamed on family gatherings held over Christmas but Madrid’s health chief Enrique Ruiz Escudero said he suspected the highly contagious coronavirus variant first identified in Britain late last year was becoming a factor.

“Clearly it has played a role in the increase in infection,” he told Onda Cero Radio, saying hundreds of suspected cases of the new variant were under investigation in his region.

Many parts of Spain have introduced new restrictive measures in a bid to stem the spread of Covid-19, including closing bars and restaurants.   

Spain on Tuesday extended for another two weeks a ban on people entering from the UK by air or sea because of concerns over the new strain of the coronavirus detected there.

The entry restriction, which does not apply to Spanish nationals and those with legal residency in Spain, will remain in effect until February 2nd, the Spanish government said in a statement.

Like most European nations, Spain imposed the entry restrictions on December 22nd following the discovery in Britain of a new strain of the coronavirus thought to be more contagious.

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COVID-19

Spain rules out EU’s advice on compulsory Covid-19 vaccination 

Spain’s Health Ministry said Thursday there will be no mandatory vaccination in the country following the European Commission’s advice to Member States to “think about it” and Germany’s announcement that it will make vaccines compulsory in February.

Published: 3 December 2021 09:30 CET
Spain rules out EU's advice on compulsory Covid-19 vaccination 
A Spanish man being vaccinated poses with a custom-made T-shirt showing Spain's chief epidimiologist Fernando Simón striking a 'Dirty Harry/Clint Eastwood' pose over the words "What part of keep a two-metre distance don't you understand?' Photo: José Jordan

Spain’s Health Minister Carolina Darias on Thursday told journalists Covid-19 vaccines will continue to be voluntary in Spain given the “very high awareness of the population” with regard to the benefits of vaccination.

This follows the words of European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen on Thursday, urging Member States to “think about mandatory vaccination” as more cases of the Omicron variant are detected across Europe. 

READ ALSO: Is Spain proving facts rather than force can convince the unvaccinated?

“I can understand that countries with low vaccine coverage are contemplating this and that Von der Leyen is considering opening up a debate, but in our country the situation is absolutely different,” Darias said at the press conference following her meeting with Spain’s Interterritorial Health Council.

According to the national health minister,  this was also “the general belief” of regional health leaders of each of Spain’s 17 autonomous communities she had just been in discussion with over Christmas Covid measures. 

READ MORE: Spain rules out new restrictions against Omicron variant

Almost 80 percent of Spain’s total population is fully vaccinated against Covid-19, a figure which is around 10 percent higher if looking at those who are eligible for the vaccine (over 12s). 

It has the highest vaccination rate among Europe’s most populous countries.

Germany announced tough new restrictions on Thursday in a bid to contain its fourth wave of Covid-19 aimed largely at the country’s unvaccinated people, with outgoing Chancellor Angela Merkel speaking in favour of compulsory vaccinations, which the German parliament is due to vote on soon.

Austria has also already said it will make Covid-19 vaccines compulsory next February, Belgium is also considering it and Greece on Tuesday said it will make vaccination obligatory for those over 60.

But for Spain, strict Covid-19 vaccination rules have never been on the table, having said from the start that getting the Covid-19 jabs was voluntary. 

There’s also a huge legal implication to imposing such a rule which Spanish courts are unlikely to look on favourably. 

Stricter Covid restrictions and the country’s two states of alarm, the first resulting in a full national lockdown from March to May 2020, have both been deemed unconstitutional by Spain’s Constitutional Court. 

READ ALSO: Could Spain lock down its unvaccinated or make Covid vaccines compulsory?

The Covid-19 health pass to access indoor public spaces was also until recently consistently rejected by regional high courts for breaching fundamental rights, although judges have changed their stance favouring this Covid certificate over old Covid-19 restrictions that affect the whole population.

MAP: Which regions in Spain now require a Covid health pass for daily affairs?

“In Spain what we have to do is to continue vaccinating as we have done until now” Darias added. 

“Spaniards understand that vaccines are not only a right, they are an obligation because we protect others with them”.

What Spanish health authorities are still considering is whether to vaccinate their 5 to 11 year olds after the go-ahead from the European Medicines Agency, with regions such as Madrid claiming they will start vaccinating their young children in December despite there being no official confirmation from Spain’s Vaccine Committee yet.

READ MORE: Will Spain soon vaccinate its children under 12?

Spain’s infection rate continues to rise day by day, jumping 17 points up to 234 cases per 100,000 people on Thursday. There are now also five confirmed cases of the Omicron variant in the country, one through community transmission.

Hospital bed occupancy with Covid patients has also risen slightly nationwide to 3.3 percent, as has ICU Covid occupancy which now stands at 8.4 percent, but the Spanish government insists these figures are “almost three times lower” than during previous waves of the coronavirus pandemic.

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