Covid infections increase by two-thirds in the first semester, but death rates are only half as high.

The Andalusian Health Service, (SAS), began summoning people below 30 years old to receive their first doses. Masks were required for outdoor and indoor use. The epidemiological situation in Almeria is very different today, with almost 1.6million doses having been administered and the whole population now having access to vaccines.

Although infections are still a major concern, there are no restrictions on public transport and admission to hospitals or nursing homes. Like the Ministry of Health and Families of the Junta de Andalucia and the rest of the regional governments, the Ministry of Health and Families of the Junta de Andalucia now reports only twice per week on the development of the disease and only addresses the most vulnerable.

This is despite the fact infections are on the rise and could even be considered out of control. There is one key difference to last year. Since hospitalizations have dropped by 43.16%, ICU admissions have decreased by 79.19%, and deaths have fallen by 46.69%, the covid is now flu-like. While positive cases have increased almost twice.

This is the balance that can be made in the first half 2022. In this time, 67,066 SARS/CoV-2 infections were officially reported in Almeria. 45.07% of all cases have been diagnosed in Almeria soil. Since the outbreak of the current health crisis at the end February 2020. All infections caused by home antigens should be added to this list. These infections have not been included in the official Board system.

It is sufficient to compare the confirmed cases between January and June last year to understand the scale of this figure. After suffering from the worst pandemic, Almeria had 34,312 infected people.

The number of patients who required hospital treatment for coronavirus-related illnesses is one indicator that shows that the virus is less aggressive now than it was a year ago.

Between January and June 2021, 2,396 people infected in the province were admitted to Almeria's hospital. This caused the system to become so saturated that it had to stop all non-urgent surgery. . It is true that hospitals registered nearly half a million patients in February at the height of the third wave. One hundred of these were admitted to the ICU. A staggering 442 Almeria residents were admitted to the ICU in the first half 2021.

These figures contrast with the numbers recorded in the past six months. During that time, 1,362 Almeria residents were hospitalized, 92 in the ICU. Another difference to last year is that 2022 saw a higher percentage of people admitted with other diseases. The virus was also detected in routine hospital tests. Access to the hospital.

The latest report from Health Tuesday states that the Almeria hospitals' ICUs have been completely empty for the past two weeks. This is something that was impossible in previous pandemics.

In terms of deaths, 544 Almerian infected people died in the first half 2021. According to official statistics, this is equivalent to three people per day. In 2022, 290 people infected by SARS-CoV-2 died.

When you take into account both the infected and dead Almerians, the 2021 fatality rate was 1.58% in the first six months. It has dropped to 0.4% in 2022.