Covid-19: Four regions 'back to normal' and all the rest 'out of extreme risk' 

EVERY single one of Spain's 19 regions is now out of 'extreme risk' for Covid, and four of them are considered practically 'back to normal' as their case numbers are negligible.

These data, released on Wednesday evening, showed that the national incidence was 111.91 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, or 0.11% of the population.

Madrid was the last of the 15 mainland and four offshore regions to lose its 'extreme risk' classification, with all the others having ditched this dubious label some time ago – many of them, several months back.

This means normal levels of intensive care occupation – rates seen before the pandemic – have been reported in most regions, and even in those where numbers are higher than usual, the level of pressure is manageable.

The north-African coastal enclave of Ceuta, directly across the water from Gibraltar, and the Comunidad Valenciana on the east coast of the mainland were the first regions to report that they were almost back to normal, followed swiftly by the Balearic Islands, and now, the north-western region of Galicia.

All four currently show a rate of fewer than 50 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, or less than 0.05% of their population.

In the Comunidad Valenciana, only the biggest cities are showing numbers of Covid cases in three figures, the biggest towns range from approximately 10 to 50, a majority of medium-sized towns are showing single figures – several of these having had no cases at all for weeks – and the overwhelming majority of villages have been Covid-free for around two months.

This is despite the region being slightly behind the majority of the others in terms of vaccination, still working through those in their 50s and not due to start on the 40-somethings for another 10 days or so – partly due to its being one of the most densely-populated regions outside those with the two largest cities.

In the 16 months since the first Covid-19 cases were being detected in almost every region in Spain, a total of 3,715,454 have been reported – if each patient only contracted the virus once, it means 7.9% of the population have been affected, although in the past year, an average of 60-75% have been asymptomatic.

During those 16 months, a total of 80,332 people have died from the condition, or 0.17% of the population.

To date, nearly 10 million residents have been fully vaccinated, including all those aged 60-plus and key workers in contact with the public, unless they were unable to be for medical or other reasons or they chose not to.

Around 19 million in total have had at least one, if not both, doses of their vaccines, meaning not far off 50% of the population – a figure that should be comfortably exceeded by the end of the month.

This month will see those in their 40s given their first dose, if they have not already had both and, as this age group makes up around 7.8 million, or 16.6% of the total population of Spain, getting these fully immunised will be crucial to hitting the EU and national target of 70% of the headcount vaccinated – a figure considered to be the minimum required for 'herd immunity'.

But some regions are already ahead, and have started on those aged 30-39, so the target could well be exceeded by some margin by August.