Covid is still out there. Like other respiratory viruses, SARS-CoV-2 and its new faces have found a business niche where they survive by infecting one another.. The virus stays alive thanks to continuous transmission between individuals. And in summer, it has been circulating, silently.
From July 6 to September 6, the positivity of cases in Primary Care has multiplied almost fourfold, going from 11% to 40.6, according to reports from the Acute Respiratory Infection Surveillance System (SiVIRA) of the Institute of Health Carlos III (ISCIII).
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In the last week, there is already some stabilization. But given the uncertainty and the arrival of seasonal viruses, SiVIRA recommends increasing the sequencing of sentinel cases of ARIs (Acute Respiratory Infection in Primary Care) and SARI (Acute Respiratory Infection in Hospitals) positive for SARS-CoV. 2 to increase sensitivity in the identification of circulating variants of this virus.
In Spain, officially, 13,914,811 have already passed Covid, according to the latest Health report published on June 30. Since then there are no records that consider the virus as a health emergency and the data is not broken down by age or community.. And they are incomplete data, since since April 1, 2022, official epidemiological surveillance focused on those over 60 years of age, considered at risk.. In fact, in the ECDC there is no data since June 26 either.
“Currently the epidemiological situation is not bad,” emphasizes Antoni Trilla, specialist in Preventive Medicine and Public Health and dean of the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Barcelona, who emphasizes that the vaccination campaign “is advanced a week at most” with regarding the initial forecasts and not because the Covid situation is worrying.
From Separ (Spanish Society of Pulmonology and Thoracic Surgery), Francisco Sanz Herrero, secretary of the Tuberculosis and Respiratory Infections Area explains that “the current covid cases are mild”. But it specifies that “special care must be taken with elderly people and those who are at risk due to their cardiac and respiratory ailments.”
Even so, Sanz warns that “we will have to wait for the arrival of the cold (the real one, not just now with the rains), because that is when the drop in thermometers paralyzes the defense mechanisms of the lungs and they are most vulnerable.” to infections”. This, added to the fact that “we will lock ourselves more at home and in schools children will act as virus transmitters, this could cause cases to rise,” concludes Sanz.
How many Covid cases are there in Spain now?
According to SiVIRA, after the summer rebound, the increase in Covid-19 activity in primary care continues, while in hospitals there could be signs of stabilization. It should be noted that flu activity and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) remain almost at zero.
Specifically, the data from the last week point to a rate in Primary Care of 114.3 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, with an increase since the beginning of July when the rate barely reached 30 cases.. The highest figures are observed in the group of children under 4 years of age (253.62 cases).
The hospitalization rate for Covid-19 stands at 3.5 cases per 100,000, with variations increasing since the beginning of July. Among hospitalized patients, the highest rates are observed in the group of those over 79 years of age.
What are the Covid variants circulating?
The latest bulletins highlight the presence of the variants inherited from the omicron lineage, XBB.1.5 F456L and XBB.1.5 continue to predominate. Specifically, the XBB.1.5 (25%) and XBB.1.5-like+F456L (25%) and since the start of the 2022-23 season the .5%) and BA.5 (8.3%).
What are the most common Covid symptoms?
The new variants, being descendants of Omicron, bear a certain similarity to the first strains of this lineage. It is true that, in the reports from the WHO, ECDC and Health, it is concluded that the new variants circulating right now present a greater capacity for immune escape than previous variants, an increase in transmissibility and less severity of the cases.
Preliminary studies of EG.5 suggest that there is more lung involvement. Thus, the symptoms are similar to previous waves due to other strains: cough, runny nose, tiredness (bad body), headaches and throat pain, among others.
Are there cases of flu and RSV currently?
No. The ISCIII reports do not only cover cases of these seasonal viruses.
What measures should we take into account?
Those already learned in these previous three years, such as taking a pharmacy test in case of suspicious symptoms. The current ones already allow us to distinguish between SARS-CoV-2 and influenza A and B viruses.
In addition, it is worth remembering that prevention measures (mask, interpersonal distance, hand hygiene and ventilation) are effective for all variants, as well as for respiratory viruses.