Spain's COVID-19 hospitalizations surpass those of last 2 waves

OVIEDO, Spain

As Spain’s infections during the sixth wave of the pandemic continued to surge on Wednesday, the number of people hospitalized for COVID-19 surpassed the level reached in the previous two waves.

During the last waves in April and August, the number of hospitalizations peaked at around 10,500. As of Wednesday, more than 13,300 patients were being treated for the disease in Spanish hospitals.

However, the figure still pales in comparison to the country’s deadly third wave that happened one year ago, before many of the most vulnerable were fully vaccinated. At that time, more than 30,000 patients were being treated for COVID-19.

Meanwhile, the number of people in critical care remains slightly lower than in the last two waves, which experts attribute to the vaccine and the potentially milder effects of the omicron variant.

More than 90% of Spanish adults are fully vaccinated, but the infections have surged to levels previously unseen.

Around 1 million people in Spain have tested positive for the virus in the last 10 days, and contagion remains on an upward trend.

Spain’s sixth wave is also increasingly felt in deaths. On Wednesday, 148 more people died from the disease -- 70 more than the same day last week.