The current pandemic situation leaves 306 deaths from Covid in the Region, 76 of them in the last week
The sixth wave continues in clear decline in the Region of Murcia. Yesterday, Health reported 1,414 cases corresponding to Tuesday, almost half of those registered on the same day last week. In addition, the care pressure is gradually reduced. Health centers have gone from monitoring almost 45,000 Covid patients in mid-January to serving 16,700. In hospitals, the number of admitted falls sharply, from 547 on Wednesday to 498 yesterday. However, deaths are on the rise. Health reported eleven new deaths yesterday, so the number of deaths from Covid in the last week amounts to 76, the highest number of the entire sixth wave.
This evolution was foreseeable, recalls the specialist in Infectious Diseases Enrique Bernal, Covid coordinator of the Reina Sofía. “Mortality typically increases about two weeks after the increase in admission,” he notes. Many of those who are now dying from coronavirus are patients with “multiple comorbidities” who accumulate weeks or even more than a month of admission.
In total, the sixth wave has left, so far, 306 deaths in the Region of Murcia. It is an important figure, which in fact doubles that recorded during the first wave, when the virus claimed 150 lives.
The number of people admitted to hospitals with coronavirus is already below fifty, with 498 patients
It is, however, far from the 882 deaths registered last winter. But to assess these data, it must be taken into account that this latest pandemic wave has left a record of infections, with no less than 198,785 cases reported since November 15, when the incidence began to rise, at first gradually and after explosive way.
The Omicron factor
According to the reports of the Epidemiology service, the mortality of this sixth wave is between 0.12% and 0.15%, compared to between 1.3% and 1.6% that was reached in previous waves , when the population was not yet massively vaccinated. That is, mortality is now about ten times lower. If the pandemic had behaved this winter as at other times of this long health crisis, the effect would have been devastating, with between 2,500 and 3,000 deaths in the Region of Murcia.
Two elements have prevented this catastrophe: vaccines and the greater lightness of the Omicron variant. “But the main factor, without a doubt, are the vaccines,” underlines Enrique Bernal. Keep in mind that Delta, one of the most aggressive variants of the entire pandemic, was predominant during the first part of this sixth wave.
Covid, however, has continued to claim lives, especially due to the enormous volume of infections. The deceased obey two profiles: patients who have not been vaccinated and patients “who have many comorbidities.” Of the first 250 infected patients admitted during this latest wave at the Reina Sofía, 14 died, and none of them were vaccinated, says the Covid coordinator of this hospital. 70% of patients admitted to the ICU in the Region are not vaccinated, according to data provided by Health.
All this invites optimism, and even more so if we add to this the notable drop in healthcare pressure in recent days. The Reina Sofía did not register any admission for Covid on Tuesday, something that had not happened since the escalation of infections of the sixth wave began.