Covid: Hospital admissions for coronavirus doubles in two weeks. Some procedures cancelled across Spanish regions

THE fifth wave of the coronavirus pandemic is starting to trigger more hospital admissions of Covid-19 patients but the pressure on healthcare remains lower than in previous spikes.

The national incidence of the virus is above 500 per 100,000 people – the highest since February – and the number of patients with covid in hospital has risen to 4,705, the number has almost doubled over a fortnight.

But the pressure is much lower than seen in earlier waves of the disease – at the end of January there were 30,700 virus patients in hospital.

However, in some regions the health service is rescheduling some planned
procedures; the current spike in infections also comes at a time when health staff are taking summer leave.

The current infections are mainly amongst young people who usually experience mild symptoms or are asymptomatic; leading to more pressure on primary healthcare.