The recipe of the health authorities against the explosion of Chinese cases: test, isolate, use the mask well and increase vaccination

• Health The autonomous communities ask Health to make the negative Covid test mandatory for the entry of Chinese citizens into Spain

• Covid-19 Can the enormous transmission in China reach Spain and cause a new wave?

While Spain and the rest of the countries prepare for the arrival of Chinese tourists, the basic protection measures that have been developed during these three years of pandemic must be 'taken out of the drawer'.

Without forgetting that today the situation is different because the population has acquired immunity through infections and vaccines.

As experts in Public Health and epidemiology argue, they are nothing more than a series of basic rules.

As Maria Van Kerkhove, specialist in infectious diseases and technical chief of the World Health Organization for Covid, has pointed out, it is a

or what is the same: test, isolate, make responsible use of the mask and not forget to emphasize vaccination.

The threat of a new wave coming from China, perhaps, will serve as an excuse to further raise vaccination rates.

Do I have to get vaccinated again?

Spain 's level of

.

Above all, in the vulnerable population over 60 years of age, 55.5% already have the second booster puncture.

And if we look only at those over 80, it goes up to 73.0%.

The negative side is that those under 40 years of age did not attend the third reinforcement puncture.

Only half of those in their thirties, just over 44% among those aged 20 and a third of those aged 18 and 19.

In total, 26,389,932 Spaniards have the first reinforcement, which was recommended almost a year ago.

Currently, since December 15, it is possible to go to a vaccination center and request the second booster dose with the updated formulation against the omicron variants.

They are available to everyone over the age of six.

The vaccination campaign has not had as much impact on the little ones

.

Among children under 12 years of age, only 46.2% have received both doses.

For this age group, from 6 to 12, as well as those from 12 to 17, it would be the third dose.

Since, in his case, a third puncture after Christmas was not recommended last year.

Are there many cases now in Spain?

Vaccine coverage explains that, although there is transmission in our country,

, that is, they are serious and require hospitalization.

This is the wall that vaccines 'build'.

According to the latest Health report yesterday,

at 14 days per 100,000 inhabitants and 60.48 at seven days.

If we look back in time, these

.

In Spain, according to Sivira (Sentinel Surveillance of Acute Respiratory Infection in Primary Care, IRAs, and in Hospitals, IRAG) there are more cases of influenza A than Covid.

The

respectively.

It should be noted that the flu rate in Primary Care stands at 213.4 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, while the Covid rate is 79.4 cases.

By age groups, the highest rates of Covid infection occur in the 45-64-year-old group.

In addition,

hospitalized cases per 100,000 inhabitants is estimated, which has decreased since the previous week.

The most affected age group is those over 79 years of age.

In total, 13,684,258 infections have been officially reported in our country and 117,095 deaths have been recorded.

Will the mask return indoors?

Health does not contemplate a change in the obligatory nature of its use

beyond that already marked in public transport and current socio-sanitary spaces.

The experts do recommend that

.

In these recommendations they allude to the use of them in crowded and closed places by the elderly, vulnerable and patients at risk.

They also argue that their use should be regular if a person has symptoms of a respiratory disease, be it covid, flu or another.

Do I have to do the anti-Covid test again?

The

during these past months.

In addition, these tests have been updated with the inclusion of results not only for Covid-19, but also for influenza A and B viruses.

In fact, from the General Council of Pharmacists of Spain it is stated that Spain currently has a sufficient supply of products against Covid (test, masks...) and medicines to deal with symptoms in the event of a possible increase in the demand.

What precautions do I have to take if I travel?

Know the Covid situation of the country and the entry requirements

.

Although the EU has not yet made any firm decision, it is convenient to have the

.

The United States, Japan and Israel still have certain requirements for entry, including a Covid passport.

How to know if the Covid Vaccination Certificate has been updated?

It must be remembered that this document was needed to travel between EU countries until last October.

It is enough to have the three doses of the vaccines that have the approval of the WHO (Pfizer/BioNTech, AstraZeneca/Oxford, Janssen, Moderna, Sinopharm, Sinovac, Bharat, Novavax, Casino and Valneva) or in the absence of a puncture a test that certify having passed the Covid.

What are the variants in circulation?

They all belong to the omicron family, with whom we have been living for a year now.

In our country, according to the latest Health report,

, which have shown a rapid growth rate in other European countries and present key spike mutations in addition to those of BA.4/5, account for 70.5% of all sequenced samples.

The vaccines available for the last booster dose from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna have high protection against these strains.

And what are the Chinese 'faces' of Covid today?

Although there is little transparency on the part of the organizations of the Asian giant, in a statement yesterday from the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) it was stated that

due to the fact that these are the same variants that already circulate in the continent and because of the high immunity and vaccination rates.

Thus, the variants currently reported by China and other countries are mainly BA.5.2, BF.7 and BA.2.76.

In addition, of the cases related to travel, it has also been detected that the variants BA.5.6, BA.4.6, BA.2.75.2, BM.4.1.1 and BA.2.3.20 are circulating in the Asian country.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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