- Concern is growing in the Vega Baja after a further 21 deaths from coronavirus have been recorded in the region in the last 2 weeks, bringing the total to 193 since March.
There have been seven more deaths from coronavirus in the Vega Baja in the last three days, according to the latest data issued by the Ministry of Health.
Added to the 14 deaths that have been recorded since Friday, November 27, the total in the region during the last two weeks has now reached 21.
The health authorities say that this second wave of the pandemic is now affecting the municipalities of the Vega Baja rather more than the first.
Of the seven deaths that have occurred in the last three days, four have been in the Orihuela Health Department and three in Torrevieja. The region is now close to 200 deaths from the pandemic, recording 193 deaths from coronavirus since March.
Two of the deaths were in Orihuela and one each in the municipalities of Benejúzar, Cox, Pilar de la Horadada, Rojales and Torrevieja. In addition, both of the region’s health departments have reported 141 new cases in the last three days, bringing the total number of coronavirus cases in the Vega Baja to 8,071 since the pandemic began, 5,099 in the Orihuela Health Department and 2,972 in Torrevieja.
The pressure on the Intensive Care Units, however, has fallen in recent days, following the rebound that we recently saw in the Orihuela Health Department, that forced the health authorities to impose additional restrictive measures.
The Vega Baja Hospital was called upon to launch its contingency plan with a new floor for covid patients and an increase in the number of ICU beds with respirators, in addition which it was required to move patients to other hospitals, due to saturation and a near healthcare collapse in the Oriolano hospital.
However, in the last 14 days, 270 new cases of coronavirus have been recorded in the Orihuela Health Department, which serves 18 municipalities in the interior of the Vega Baja, where a total of 79 people have so far died from the virus.
In the Torrevieja Health Department, 114 people have died since March and in the last two weeks 130 new cases of coronavirus have been reported, according to the Ministry of Health.
But experts say that the situation is improving in both Torrevieja and Orihuela where in the last 14 days both health authorities have shown a cumulative incidence of coronavirus cases below 100 per 100,000 inhabitants, which is the figure above which the authorities consider the situation worrisome.
Orihuela currently has a cumulative incidence of 49, Torrevieja of 51.
Nevertheless, given this data, the health authorities continue to emphasise the importance of them complying with health security measures to stop the pandemic spreading further.
