One week into the summer, the seventh wave of Covid sees Spain in a worse situation than at it was the end of last year. The ICUs are not currently under pressure, with just 342 beds occupied by Covid patients, but the current rate of hospitalisation is far worse than those of neighbours France, Italy and Germany, with the virus suffering a new upswing.

This time last year the total number of people hospitalised was under 3,300. Now, it exceeds 6,700, more than double. The number of weekly deaths at 157 is also double that of a year ago when it was 82.

With 120 Covid admissions per million inhabitants in seven days, the country far exceeds Italy’s 31, Germany’s 34 and France’s 42, according to ‘Our World in Data’ .

HEALTH MINISTRY BACKTRACKS ON FOURTH VACCINE PLAN

Meanwhile, Spain’s health ministry backtracked after the head of the department, apparently incorrectly, announced that a fourth Covid vaccine doses would be available to everyone this autumn – for now, they confirm, they will only be for people over 80, nursing home residents, and people who are immunocompromised.