Between 80% and 90% of extremely premature babies—those born before 28 weeks of gestation—suffer from anemia. To treat it, two-thirds of these infants require blood transfusions during the first weeks of life, but receiving adult blood carries some side effects. An Italian study published in 2025 demonstrated that transfusions of umbilical cord blood reduce the risk of pathologies common in premature infants, such as retinal, pulmonary, and circulatory problems, while also avoiding the complications associated with receiving adult blood. To demonstrate the viability of this transfusion technique, the Hospital Clínic Barcelona and the Blood and Tissue Bank (BST) conducted a clinical trial with 41 extremely premature babies with anemia, which yielded favorable results. The trial, presented at the Congress of European Societies of Neonatology, has passed its first phase, confirming that the infrastructure of Hospital Clínic and BST is suitable for performing cord blood transfusions. This makes the center a pioneer in Spain and "one of the only places in the world where we have a healthcare facility that allows for this technique," says Dr. Miquel Alsina, attending physician in the Neonatology Department at Hospital Clínic. He adds that they are already working on creating a multicenter study with six centers that can "treat as many children as possible when they need it."

For several weeks Catalonia has been the black spot of the European Union in terms of infection numbers, and yesterday there were still 581 people in Catalan ICUs. These patients who are now critically ill are the result of what happened then, and one only has to look at the graphs to see that the rise in infections in this fifth wave has doubled the peaks of previous waves. The expected report on how the contagions worked at the three big festivals that were authorised at the beginning of July was made public on Wednesday. In light of what has happened, it was predictable that there would be many more infected than what was expected. The three massive summer festivals - Vida, Canet Rock and Cruïlla -, which were treated by the Health Dpt as a clinical trial in which all attendees were required to take an antigen test before entering and there was a follow-up of part of the attendees to see the degree of infection afterwards, caused more infections than the Department expected. In total, 2,279 people were infected among the 49,570 who participated in the pilot sample, 842 more than would have been infected if they had not gone to the festival, according to the analysis. It has also been found that 271 people knew they had tested positive but "snuck" into the festival anyway.