• Pandemic accelerates as 2,500 cases recorded in Valencian Community on Christmas Eve

As the figures continue to increase, the Valencian Community has now experienced two weeks with a record numbers of infections, and on Christmas Eve a record number of 2,500 new cases has been recorded.

The community has seen a further 35 outbreaks and another increase in the numbers of people who are hospitalised: more than 1,400 people will spend Christmas Eve in Valencian hospitals being treated for covid.

According to the latest data from the Conselleria de Sanitat, 2,494 new coronavirus infections confirmed by PCR or antigen test have been registered in the Valencian Community in the last 24 hours, which takes the total number of positive cases since the start of the pandemic to 136,415.

By province, the numbers are as follows: 286 in Castellón (14,900 in total); 737 in Alicante (45,194 in total), and 1,461 in the province of Valencia (76,309 in total). In addition, there are 10 unassigned cases, taking that number to 12.

The death figures have not been updated since Tuesday when there were 20 deaths from coronavirus since the last update, so the total number of deaths is 2,792 people: 366 in the province of Castellón, 981 in Alicante and 1,445 in Valencia.

Regarding hospitalisations, there has been a significant rise in recent days. Last Friday there were about 1,100 people admitted with covid-19 in Valencian hospitals and this Wednesday the number is at 1,414 people: 125 in the province of Castellón, with 18 ICU patients; 376 in the province of Alicante, 91 of them in the ICU; and 913 in the province of Valencia, 133 of them in ICU.