The spread of the covid , which stagnated in the last two days , is growing again in Catalonia, where the risk of regrowth (EPG), which measures the potential growth of the epidemic, rises 4 points and stands at 212. They also grow, like yesterday, the contagions. In the last hours, 1,889 have been detected. You have to go back a month to find a similar figure.

According to the epidemiological data updated this Thursday by the Health Department, there are 1,378 hospitalized covid patients, 15 less than yesterday, but instead the ucis continue to increase and there are already 420 critical patients (two more than yesterday), which is maintains a very high hospital pressure.

Intensive care unit of the Hospital de Sant Pau, in Barcelona.
Coronavirus: Catalonia begins this Wednesday the vaccination with AstraZeneca of people over 55 years old | DIRECT

The rate of spread of the disease (Rt), which had stagnated at 1.08, now stands at 1.09. That is, every 100 infected infects an average of 109 people, which indicates, whenever that one point bar is exceeded, that the virus is expanding, which makes health authorities fear a fourth wave of the pandemic.

The Can Bigotis rural house, in Sant Vicenç de Torelló, during the preparations for the first weekend of regional deconfinement.

Epidemiologists, who attribute the new growth of the virus to the spread of the most contagious variants, are closely watching the increase in the epidemic in Europe and fear that this fourth wave of the disease may begin on the eve of Holy Week, with the lifting of restrictions and ucis still very full.

Mortality is the only indicator that continues to decline , especially due to vaccination of the elderly. In the last hours 16 people have died.

The positivity, that is, the percentage of positives in PCR tests and antigen tests, rises again and stands at 5.18 (yesterday, at 5.11). It is above the 5% that the WHO indicates as the threshold for controlling the epidemic.

Vaccination
Regarding vaccination, data that is also available on the Salut data website, Catalonia has administered it to a total of 692,801 people since the vaccination campaign began -380,908 people have already received the second dose–: they have been administered 22,538 first doses of vaccine in the last 24 hours.

Of the total number of people vaccinated with the first dose, 508,457 are from the province of Barcelona, ​​61,726 from Girona, 47,449 from Lleida and 73,759 from Tarragona; and 58,654 of the total are users of Catalan residences.