The deaths from covid in January – which are the highest in the pandemic – are already double those registered during December. After lamenting 14 more deaths yesterday, the number of people whose deaths have been reported during this first month of the year amounts to 195, which is twice as much as in December when 98 people died. Of these, nine were recorded in Gran Canaria, four in Tenerife and one in La Palma.
The first week of January, most of the deaths could be related to infections of the delta variant, as confirmed by the head of epidemiology of the Government of the Canary Islands, Amos García Rojas. However, since then, all the deaths that have occurred have been directly related to the incessant advance of the omicron variant. Canarias has been one of the communities in which this variant has spread more strongly. According to the latest report from the Ministry of Health, at the beginning of January, 63.6% of covid cases were omicron.
Canarian hospitals maintain 685 people admitted with a diagnosis of covid
Despite the large number of deaths, healthcare pressure has not been reduced. In fact, it has increased again to break a new record. Canarian hospitals maintain 685 people admitted with a diagnosis of covid, which is 22 more patients than the previous day. Admissions have fundamentally increased in the two capital islands, in such a way that Tenerife has increased its patients by 11 and Gran Canaria has done so by 12. In both cases, the care pressure has grown more in the ward admission areas, whose patients represent 87% of the total.
Although admission to the ICU also increases, it does so at a slower rate thanks to the protection conferred by vaccination. In total, there are 86 people in critical condition in the Canary Islands, a figure that is still below other waves. The fifth summer wave of last year registered a maximum peak of 107 patients hospitalized at the same time in the intensive care units of the Canary Islands. The hospitals with the highest care pressure are La Candelaria in Tenerife and the Insular – Materno Infantil in Gran Canaria.
Downward trend
The trend in hospitalization, for the moment, does not correspond to that of incidents. The contagion figures have apparently been on the decline for a week. Yesterday, 1,394 new cases of coronavirus were registered throughout the Canary Islands, the lowest figure in more than a month, since December 20. In this sense, Gran Canaria is now the one that pushes the diagnosis of cases, because yesterday registered 61% of the positives in the Archipelago, or that corresponds to a total of 852 cases.
Tenerife, for its part, barely registers 354 cases, which represents its lowest number of new diagnoses for the island since December 13, that is, in 41 days. La Palma registered 129 new cases of coronavirus, and maintains the downward trend of its epidemic curve. Fuerteventura, Lanzarote and La Gomera registered 46, 47 and 21 new positives, respectively, which also represents a reduction in their epidemic curve.
The only island that maintains an increase in cases is El Hierro, which yesterday added 35 new cases. The epidemic evolution of this island in recent weeks is what has led the Ministry of Health to increase its level of risk. Hence, as of today, El Hierro falls under level 3 and is forced to take measures such as imposing the mandatory vaccination certificate.
