The incidence rate of the coronavirus has increased in the Region of Murcia by 30% in the last week, partly due to the outbreaks detected in a centre for the disabled in San Javier, which has 32 positive cases and one death, and in the Rafael Méndez hospital in Lorca, with 24 cases.
This was announced this Monday at a press conference by the Minister of Health, Juan José Pedreño, who explained that the rate stands at 51 cases of Covid-19 per 100,000 inhabitants in the last 14 days, and 28.7 in the last seven, which represents an increase of 30 percentage points over the previous week.
With regard to the outbreak detected in the San Javier socio-health centre, it has indicated that, to date, it has affected 15 workers and 17 users. The Murcian Health Service (SMS) and Public Health are studying the cases, as well as monitoring the associated close contacts.
Pedreño has regretted the loss of one of the users of this space on Sunday night. He is a 33-year-old man with previous pathologies and a delicate state of health who died after testing positive and suffering from massive pneumonia.
As for the outbreak at the Rafael Méndez hospital, the Health Minister said that the Epidemiology Service is studying it, and that so far 24 cases have been counted – eleven patients, four professionals and nine family members. To avoid contagion, the health complex has restricted visits for 15 days and reinforced access control.
Pedreño said that cases such as these show that “the risk is still latent” and that the virus “continues to circulate”, which is why he has insisted on the need to be extremely cautious and maintain security measures, as well as opting for the vaccine as “a gesture of solidarity with everyone and security and protection of our health”.
According to the Minister, the twelve patients currently admitted to Intensive Care Units (ICU) in the Region of Murcia, aged between 19 and 79, are all unvaccinated.
THIRD VACCINE FOR THE OVER 70S
Pedreño has reported that the over 70s will receive, from the end of October or early November, the third booster dose of the vaccine against the coronavirus in parallel with the flu, always, of course, taking into account the arrival of vaccines by the Ministry of Health.
In this regard, he has advanced that the Vaccine Service of the Region has already developed the protocol that will be transferred to the respective services in the coming days. The spokesman for the Covid Committee, Jaime Pérez, pointed out that both vaccines – against the coronavirus and the flu – “can be co-administered”, in other words, both can be received at the same time.
