Lanzarote and La Graciosa will continue for another week at alert level 3 for Covid, as announced by the Ministry of Health of the Government of the Canary Islands, after updating the health alert levels this Thursday.
Following the epidemiological report of the General Directorate of Public Health, with data consolidated to January 12 on the evolution of health indicators for COVID-19, the Ministry keeps all the islands at the same alert level they were at. This means that Tenerife continues at alert level 4; Gran Canaria, Fuerteventura, La Palma and Lanzarote (where La Graciosa is epidemiologically included) at level 3 and La Gomera and El Hierro at level 2.
In the Autonomous Community as a whole, between January 4 and 10, 29,384 new cases of COVID-19 were reported, which represents an increase of around 12.7% in the daily average of new cases in relation to the previous week.
The 7-day IA rate in the Canary Islands increased by 12.7%, so that, from a weekly average of 1,198.4 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, it rose to 1,350.4 cases this week. The largest increase is observed in Fuerteventura, but all the islands are at a very high risk level in this indicator, as is the case with the 7-day IA in people over 65 years of age and the 14-day IA, which are at very high risk in all the islands.
Care indicators
Regarding care indicators, the daily average of conventional hospital beds occupied increases by 39.4% compared to the previous week and is at high risk, with an average of 570 beds occupied. The percentage of occupancy in Tenerife is at a very high risk level; in Gran Canaria at high risk; in La Palma at medium risk; in Fuerteventura and Lanzarote at low risk; and in La Gomera and El Hierro in controlled circulation.
The number of occupied ICU beds maintains the upward trend, increasing by 9.6 percent compared to the previous evaluation. In all the islands, the average has gone from 83 occupied ICU beds two weeks ago to 91 in the last week, with an occupancy percentage of 18.1% and continues at high risk. Tenerife remains at a very high risk level; Gran Canaria at a high risk level; Fuerteventura at a medium risk level; La Palma at a low risk level; and the rest of the islands are in controlled circulation.
Median age
The median age of all people hospitalized for COVID-19 in the last 30 days is 69 years and 63 and a half years in those admitted to the ICU, all being over 25 years of age. 50% of the people admitted to critical care units diagnosed during the last 30 days had not received the complete vaccination schedule.
79.9% of the people admitted for COVID and diagnosed in the last 30 days had no previous pathologies. This percentage increases in unvaccinated patients, in whom 91.1% had no other known pathologies.
The Ministry of Health insists on the need to maintain prevention measures to avoid risks of COVID-19 transmission: use of a mask perfectly covering the nose and mouth; respect for social distance; maintaining cross ventilation and hand hygiene.
The island of Gran Canaria remains at alert level 3, although the report warns of the need to continue monitoring very closely the evolution of the indicators of block II and the global occupancy of critical units in public hospitals in the coming days in case they reach levels of very high impact of the pandemic at hospital level, as current trends suggest.
Gran Canaria has presented for weeks all block I indicators at a very high risk level and the block II indicators have progressively increased, with the percentage of occupancy of critical care beds at a high risk level for more than 15 days. The occupancy of conventional beds rises to a high risk level since January 9 (10.6%) and, in the ICUs, it is at high risk and relatively stable at around 18% for more than 10 days.
Although at this time, according to the update of November 29, 2021 of the document of Indicators for the risk assessment and Alert levels of COVID-19 transmission approved in the Interterritorial Council of the National Health System, Gran Canaria can continue at alert level 3, the data indicate that it is necessary to continue observing very closely the evolution of the indicators of block II in the coming days.
