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Just after mask-wearing in open spaces was abolished and coinciding with the start of summer holidays in Spain, Covid-19 cases skyrocketed throughout the country and the incidence rate doubled. Triggered by the onset of the Delta variant, which the World Health Organisation (WHO) claims is the most contagious strain of the virus so far, infections shot up from 138,527 in June to a staggering 681,678 cases in July.

 

The increase in positives predictably translated into Covid-related fatalities this summer. A total of 2,829 people died in Spain in August, according to the official data from the Ministry of Health, representing the highest death toll in a single month since the Christmas wave ended.

 

In late June, the vaccination campaign was still progressing at a good pace and the incidence of the virus in older populations was well contained, with just 24.84 cases per 100,000 people in those over 80. However, among the younger generations, the rate of infections began to surge, hitting 345.26 in the 12 to 19 age group.

 

Thus began the fifth wave of the pandemic in Spain, with figures in July almost hitting the devastating 863,961 cases recorded in January following the Christmas celebrations, making it the second-worst month of the year so far. Although many cases this summer were in young people with only mild symptoms, Covid has sent 17,201 people to hospitals and has seen 3,374 admitted to intensive care. Despite these high numbers, the vaccination campaign has certainly reduced the rate of severe cases of coronavirus.

 

However, it was really in August that quite a few of these serious cases went to the extreme, with an average of 91.26 people dying every day. In many areas of Spain, this number actually rose as high as 150 daily deaths.

 

The 2,829 deaths in August even exceed the 2,752 registered in April, when Spain was still in a state of alarm and was suffering the last consequences of the third wave.

 

In terms of human losses, only the first three months of the year were worse, with 10,528 deaths in February, 8,003 in January and 5,932 in March. That black quarter saw more than 1.3 million people affected by Covid and killed more than 24,000. The mortality rate has dropped significantly throughout 2021, however, with the vaccination strategy cutting the number of deaths by almost a fifth between June and August overall.

 

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