Students in self-isolation due to Covid triple in one week to almost 12,000

The increase in the Covid transmissions is also being felt in schools, as the number of students in self-isolation due to the pandemic has tripled in a single week.

The latest official figures show that as of November 17, 11,613 out of the 1.44 million students have to remain at home after being infected with the disease or being a close contact. This figure is up by 1,368 on the day before – 0.81% of all pupils in Catalonia.

On November 8, the figure stood at 4,308, and from that day is has increased exponentially and the trend is, so far, not slowing down.

In the past ten days, 2,052 pupils have tested positive for Covid-19, around 1,200 more than on November 8.

At the moment, those under the age of 12 are the only group not eligible to receive the vaccine.

399 out of the 164,000 people working in schools (0.24%) are also confined, and 333 of them have tested positive for the virus.

The pandemic is now seriously affecting four out of the 5,108 schools in Catalonia, which have all of its students and teachers confined.

The kindergarten Els Putxinel·lis, in Montesquiu, and the Santa Bàrbara-ZER Els Castells de Vidrà school (both in the northern county of Osona), the kindergarten Llar d'infants El Cargol in Avinyonet del Penedès (40 km west of Barcelona) and the La Roca - ZER L'Eral de Sarroca school in Lleida (western Catalonia) are under complete self-isolation.

Overall, 71 school groups in the country out of the 72,000 are confined.  

Covid current situation in Catalonia

As for the Covid situation in general, Catalonia's 14-day incidence rate (IA14) – the number of Covid-19 cases per 100,000 population over the past two weeks – is one of the lowest in Europe but is steadily increasing, with the latest figure on November 17 surpassing 100 for the first time since September 14.

This compares to 145.1 in France, 403.0 in Germany, 756.3 in the United Kingdom and 1,813.0 in Slovenia, which has the highest in Europe according to figures from a BIOCOMSC report released on November 12.

The latest figures show a transmission rate of 1.45 and an outbreak risk of 141. The transmission rate has now been above 1 – thus indicating that the rate the virus is spreading is growing – since October 19, and has risen sharply in the past two weeks.

Similarly, from a 15-month low of 37 on October 16, the outbreak risk is now rapidly rising, going above the 'high' threshold of 100 on November 12 for the first time in two months.