The latest medical reports that are making the rounds in the regional Ministry of Public Health indicate that numbers are beginning to climb again.

The statistics published by the Instituto de Salud Carlos II (ISCII) show that on a national level the pandemic is ‘technically’ on the threshold of expanding.

The basic reproductive rate, (RO) stands at 0.95, approaching 1.0, which indicates that a pandemic is growing. The 1.0 RO means that for every person infected, they’ll infect one other person, so as long as we are below that ratio, the pandemic is decreasing.

The Fifth Wave reached its peak on June the 30th with an RO figure of 1.72. From then it began to drop arriving on the 2nd of September at the ration of 0.77, which represented a rapid drop in cases.

That’s the situation as far as the national average goes but there are at least six regions of Spain where they have reached an RO of 1.0 or just over as of the 11th of October: Asturias (1.29) País Vasco (1.1) Castilla y León (1.09) Navarra (1.04) Murcia (1.01) and the Comunidad Valenciana (1.0).

There are another six regions hovering just below: Andalucía (0.98) La Rioja (0.98) Extremadura (0.97) Madrid (0.94) Canarias (0.91) and Castilla-La Mancha (0.9).

However, Doctor Fernando Simón, (the visible face of the Central Government’s pandemic team) considers it “really rather complicated for there to be a rapid-growth, 6th Wave,” adding, “any following waves will be smaller and slower in developing.” Unfortunately, he said this before the last medical reports were made known.

Editorial comment: here comes the bill for summer laxity, perhaps.

(News: Spain)