New virus surge sends younger patients to Spain’s hospitals

People queue up to receive a dose of J&J Covid-19 vaccine in an itinerant vaccination truck at the Triumphal Arch in Barcelona. Pic/AFP

Julio Miranda had never felt the threat of the Coronavirus too close. With an appointment for his first Covid-19 jab scheduled for mid-July, the 48-year-old house painter was, like many in the vaccine-abundant developed world, eagerly awaiting the end of his personal pandemic worries.

Then a colleague fell ill last month, followed by his boss' wife. Gradually, all but one of his five co-workers found themselves in bed. Miranda, who is from Chile, also started feeling stomach cramps. Soon, he was lying on the sofa, struggling to draw every breath.

"It's only when the virus hits you that you take it much more seriously," Miranda said from a hospital room. After a brief respite that brought medical activity back to pre-pandemic routines, managers at the Hospital del Mar are facing a sharp surge in infections.

The increase comes amid the advance of the Delta variant of the Coronavirus that spreads more easily. And it's being driven mostly by younger, unvaccinated patients who require less ICU care, but are turning in droves to health centres and emergency wards.

At this facility, the number of Covid-19 patients has gone from eight to 35 in just two weeks. Doctors are seeing people in their 20s and early 30s developing serious pneumonia.

Experts feel that in prioritising vaccination of the elderly and most vulnerable groups, youngsters have slipped between the cracks. As a result, 21 million - or half of the country's adult population - are fully vaccinated, but fewer than 6,00,000 of those are younger than 30, according to the latest Health Ministry data.

Germany reclassifies Spain as Covid risk

From Sunday, Germany will reclassify Spain as a Covid-19 risk area as the seven-day incidence per 1,00,000 people there has recently risen to almost 180, the Federal Foreign Office (AA) confirmed. The new travel warning does not affect travel to Spain directly yet, it said. If Spain exceeds an incidence rate of 200, however, it would be classified as a high-incidence area, requiring German travellers to Spain, who are not fully immunised, to enter quarantine.

18,69,62,279
TOTAL Number OF CORONAVIRUS

CASES IN THE WORLD

40,37,712
Number OF DEATHS WORLDWIDE

17,09,97,115
Number OF RECOVERED PATIENTS

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