Covid outbreak risk no longer ‘high’ for first time since June

The risk of new coronavirus outbreaks in Catalonia has reached its lowest levels since June 22, at the onset of the fifth wave of the pandemic driven by the Delta variant, and is no longer deemed as "high" by health authorities.

After reaching an all-time high of 1,828 on July 9, when Catalonia was reporting more than 8,000 new infections a day, the outbreak risk has been steadily decreasing for two months, and currently stands at 96.

An outbreak risk of above 100 is considered to be 'high' risk and authorities deem anything above 200 'very high' risk. It is calculated using an iEPG index, which is found by multiplying the average spread of the virus over the past seven days by the cumulative incidence over the past two weeks.

The outbreak risk was above ‘very high’ levels for most of the summer, only falling below the 200-point threshold on August 30.

The number of people hospitalized due to Covid-19 fell by 30 according to the latest figures released on Friday and currently stands at 812. Likewise, there are seven fewer patients in intensive care units, down to 278.

While hospitals and ICUs are well past the peak of the fifth wave of the pandemic, when the Catalan health department warned of a "critical" influx of patients, occupancy levels remain about twice as high as they were last June.

73% of population has first dose

As of September 9, 2021, 5,770,047 residents in Catalonia have been given the first dose of the vaccine, 73% of the total population. Out of those, 4,877,191 have also been administered a second dose (61.8% of the total population). 5,518,104 residents are considered to be fully immunized (69.8%).