The data of the infection sentinel system covid respiratory, flu and VRS, which is published every week by the Carlos III Health Institute and summarizes the figures of all the communities, bring good news this Thursday: the flu cases detected in primary care decrease for the first time in four weeks, so according to the entity it could “have reached the peak” of infections during the past week, where “a high level of intensity in relation to previous seasons” was recorded.
The influx of infected people to health centers was, in fact, so high that there was “saturation” and “collapse” in some health centers during Christmas and the hospitals with the greatest shortage of beds have had to postpone some non-urgent surgical operations. . Faced with this situation, Health proposed recovering the mandatory nature of face mask in the Health centers. Eleven autonomous communities opposed it, especially because the technical groups were not consulted before, but finally the Ministry imposed the preventive measure, which came into full force this Thursday, just when, fortunately, the flu seems to give a respite.
Data from the sentinel system indicates that the rate of infections detected by primary care from January 1 to 7 is 387 per 100,000 inhabitants, compared to 430 cases the previous week. Accordingly, the percentage of positivity of the tests performed falls from 44.6% to 41.4%. By age group, the highest rates of infections occur in children under one year of age. Furthermore, the incidence of influenza decreases in all communities, except for Balearics. However, the level of infections has been so high that the rate of hospitalization due to the flu continues to rise, especially among those over 80 years of age.
Related news
The decline in influenza means that the rate of acute respiratory infections, due to all types of viruses, falls slightly. It is still at high levels: 935 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, but the previous week it was 966. By age, again, the highest global incidence occurs in less than one year old in children from one to four years old.
Evidence indicates that the most circulating virus is influenza (especially influenza A), followed by covidwhich amounts to 10.6% in tests (9.6% in the previous week), while respiratory syncytial virus (VRS) decreases (from 9.9% to 6% from January 1 to 7).