Catalan health minister hopes pandemic will end in the fall

Catalan health minister Josep Maria Argimon says he hopes the pandemic will come to an end in the fall, but that whether this occurs or not will depend on people's actions.

In an interview with La Vanguardia newspaper published on Sunday, Argimon stressed the importance of self-isolating, criticizing those who seem to have forgotten the correct health and safety measures to take when testing positive or being in close contact with someone who has. 

The minister also expressed worry about the fact that some 740 vaccinated medical professionals were on Covid-19 sick leave on Thursday. This situation, coupled with soaring cases among the general population, means that there are some primary care teams working overtime as half of their colleagues are on leave. 

According to Argimon, half of the population should have both doses of the vaccine in two weeks' time. Although hospitalizations will still increase, he believes there will be fewer people with severe symptoms. 

Surge in Covid-19 cases

This past week there has been a significant surge in Covid-19 cases, largely due to the spread of the Delta variant among younger age groups, with record-high daily infections.

As of July 10, 2021, there have been a total of 778,065 confirmed Covid-19 cases and 22,283 people have died.

4,559,164 residents have been given the first dose of the vaccine, 58% of the total population. Out of those, 3,269,608 have also been administered a second dose (41.7% of the total population). 3,636,334 residents are considered to be fully immunized (46.3%).