Pandemic gains ground in Catalonia: ICU pressure increases and EPG reaches 777 points

BarcelonaAs reported by the Department of Health, the covid-19 pandemic continues to advance in Catalonia, which is why on Thursday the Government decided to extend the restrictive measures imposed to stop the virus for another week. This Saturday, according to the data of the Health Department, in Catalonia the number of patients affected by covid-19 that need to be in ICU has increased: at the moment there are 525 people (16 more than yesterday), a data that had not been reached since November 20. However, as a positive note, the number of hospitalizations has decreased: there are 2,497 patients with coronavirus, 35 less than yesterday.

With regard to the infections, this Saturday the Health Department has notified 4,411 new ones, confirmed with PCR or antigen test, although only 1,896 are from the last 24 hours. In total, since March, 418,318 people have been infected in Catalonia. In addition, there are 64 new deaths from the virus, a figure that increases the total to 17,931 deaths per covid-19 since the beginning of the pandemic.

Effective Potential Growth and R number increase

Since Tuesday the virus' EPG has increased. If yesterday it rose 46 points, today it rises 35 and begins to dangerously approach the 800 points (777), when last Saturday it was at 576. The R number has also risen again for the fourth consecutive day: now it is at 1.38, 3 hundredths higher than yesterday. This means that 100 people infected by covid-19 infect 138.

As for the vaccination campaign, it continues: there are already 137,780 people vaccinated in Catalonia, 16,824 more than yesterday. Monday the second dose will begin to be administered to people who received the first vaccine when the campaign was launched, although it should be noted that Pfizer has announced that it is limiting deliveries in all European countries while trying to expand production in Belgium.

Second case of the British variant detected in Catalonia

Additionally, the second case of the British variant of the coronavirus has already been detected in Catalonia. According to RAC1, it has been detected in a person from Terres de l'Ebre who had recently been in London, and who is now isolated despite not requiring hospitalization. The Health Department has confirmed this, and has pointed out that "it was foreseeable" that new cases would appear after detecting one just after the Epiphany.

Over two million deaths per covid-19 worldwide

This Saturday the threshold of more than two million deaths per covid-19 in the world was reached. According to data from Johns Hopkins University, there have already been 2,010,328 deaths from SARS-Cov2. In addition, there are 93,869,189 people infected everywhere by this virus, and 51,747,005 people have recovered after being infected with covid-19.