Health Minister assures that if the vaccines arrive, vaccinations in Catalonia "will begin on December 27"
EPG goes up by 18 points and the speed of propagation increases by three hundredths
BarcelonaThe Health Minister, Alba Vergés, said in an interview on Catalunya Ràdio that "if the vaccines arrive", as they have been assured by the State Government, the vaccination campaign will also begin on the first day scheduled, 27th of December. "The priority group are the people who live in care homes, which is logical, we have to protect them quickly", she has pointed out. "Vaccination is an extraordinary tool, it saves many lives", she said.
When asked about the measures taken by the Government, the Minister explained that "Salut [the Catalan Ministry of Health] always advises the measures that we know will work and that are stricter, because we look exclusively at health, but the measures have to take into account many other things, so decisions are taken within the Government". "They affect personal life and how people make a living, but we have a priority, and that is the health of the people and the professionals who have to look after people's health. There are professionals who have been working since February and March without a break, and the best thing we can do is to take care of them and protect them", she said.
Vergés said that by reducing interaction to the support bubble "you also protect your own bubble". "This depends on all of us, we have to take care of ourselves and protect ourselves. For Christmas, the fewer people we meet, the better. We have to reduce social interactions and only extend them when necessary", she added.
Indicators continue to worsen
Once again the covid-19 indicators in Catalonia continue to worsen, and this has already led the Government to announce on Friday new measures to stop the advance of the virus. This Sunday the Health Department has reported 1,423 new infections of covid-19 confirmed with a PCR test or an antigen test (924 less than yesterday), a figure that brings to 339,050 the people who have contracted the disease in Catalonia since the beginning of the pandemic.
In addition, the EPG remains very high, and has reached 354 points, 18 more than yesterday, while the rate of infection has increased from 1.51 yesterday to 1.53 today. This means that at this point 100 people with covid-19 infect 153, or what is the same: two people affected by covid already infect more than three, which indicates that there is indeed a very high spread.
Unlike yesterday, Saturday, today the number of people admitted to hospital is also rising: the number of people in wards has increased to 47 (1,567), although the number of people admitted to ICUs has fallen by 9 (320). Salut also adds six more deaths to the total count, which is now 16,583.
Regarding the return to school, the Minister indicated that "tests will be carried out once classes have resumed, on all the personnel who enters the school for three weeks", and, when asked about the elections, Vergés said: "We have to do everything that is possible so that people can always vote, it is a fundamental right".
