Lanzarote and La Graciosa will continue for another week in level 2 of health alert, as reported by the Ministry of Health of the Government of the Canary Islands. In addition, Fuerteventura will also remain at level 2, while the rest of the islands of the Archipelago remain at level 1, identified with the "green light".
In the whole territory of the Autonomous Community, between November 16 and 22, 1,696 new cases of COVID-19 were reported, which represents an increase of around 34% in the daily average of new cases in relation to the previous week, in which 1,270 cases were registered.
The average of the IA rate at 7 days in the Canary Islands as a whole and by islands increased by around 42%, so that, from a daily average of 50.6 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, it went to 71.8 cases in this last week. The largest increase is observed on the island of Gran Canaria, although in general the trend is increasing in the last 15 days on all the islands. This rise places Tenerife, Gran Canaria, Fuerteventura and Lanzarote at a high risk level for this indicator; La Palma and La Gomera at medium risk; and El Hierro at a very low risk level.
The daily average of the IA rate at 14 days increases in all the islands and, therefore, in the Autonomous Community as a whole, and remains at medium risk. Only La Palma and El Hierro are at low and very low risk for this indicator and in Fuerteventura the risk is high.
The evolution of the accumulated incidences responds to the general relaxation in the maintenance of non-pharmacological prevention measures (mask, physical distance, ventilation, hand washing) despite the fact that they have amply demonstrated their effectiveness. Therefore, the Ministry of Health insists on the need to maintain prevention measures to avoid risks of COVID-1 transmission.9.
Care indicators
Regarding care indicators, the daily average of conventional hospital beds occupied during the last week by COVID-19 patients increases by 34% compared to the previous week, with an average of 141 beds occupied, although the percentage of occupancy is at a low or very low risk level in each of the islands.
The number of occupied ICU beds maintains the slightly upward trend of the last two weeks, with an average in the Autonomous Community as a whole of 5.8% and low risk, which also occurs in Gran Canaria and Tenerife, while in the rest of the islands that occupancy percentage is at very low risk.
The median age of all people hospitalized for COVID-19 in the last 14 days is 65 and a half years.
50% of the people admitted to critical care units diagnosed during the last 2 weeks had not received the full vaccination schedule and 62.8% of the people admitted for COVID and diagnosed in the last 14 days had no previous pathologies, this percentage increases in unvaccinated patients in whom 77.8% had no other known pathologies.
Accumulated incidence in unvaccinated people
The accumulated incidence rate of COVID-19 cases in the last week is 2.6 times higher in the population that has not received any dose of vaccine compared to the rate in the population that has received the full schedule.
Evolution in Tenerife and Gran Canaria
The report also details that there is a growing evolution in the community transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in the Archipelago with the exception of La Gomera and El Hierro. This increase is rapid, with a percentage variation of the IA7d rate compared to that of 14 days greater than 58% on average.
At this time, the pressure indicators in the hospital environment do not seem to exceed the capacities of the system, but its evolution will have to be monitored, to give an early and effective response. Therefore, although Gran Canaria and Tenerife present the transmission indicators these last days at a high risk level, this week they will maintain their alert level 1 pending the assessment in the next period of the hospital pressure indicators and the application of the new criteria prepared by the Alert and Preparation and Response Plans Presentation, approved by the Public Health Commission of the Interterritorial Council of the National Health System on November 23, 2021.
