Masks must still be worn on public transport.

Masks must still be worn on public transport. | Majorca Daily Bulletin reporter

Humphrey CarterPalma07/10/2022 15:13
TW
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The Spanish Minister for Health, Carolina Darias, today pointed out that the Ministry and the Autonomous Communities have not discussed the withdrawal of the compulsory wearing of masks on public transport due to the recommendation of the experts of the Alerts Committee and the “slight increase” in cases of Covid.

“It has not come up, it has not been the subject of comment nor was it on the agenda. None of the ministers have done so,“ explained the minister at a press conference in Santiago de Compostela (Galicia) after the meeting of the Plenary of the Interterritorial Council of the National Health System (CISNS) this morning.

Darias recalled that at the last CISNS the Ministry and the Autonomous Regions agreed that “it should be the experts who continue to advise on decision-making” on whether or not to remove face masks on public transport.

“The Alerts Committee met recently and concluded that we must continue to wait for the moment. We are on an upward trend, it is true that it is slight and with no impact on hospitals for now, but the experts want to continue assessing it,” the minister said.

Darias said that between 23 August to 9 September the incidence of cases of COVID-19 fell by around 1.7 percent per day. However, since 30 September there has been a “slight upward trend” of 1.1 percent per day.

In today’s health report, which the minister announced, the incidence rate in the over-65s has risen 13 points compared to Tuesday, standing at 168 compared to 155.55. In any case, and as the minister pointed out, this slight rise is not translating into an increase in hospital occupancy, which continues to be “the lowest of the entire pandemic”.

Today, the Balearics reporterd 53 new cases, taking the total number of confirmed cases since the outbreak of the pandemic to 300,027 and the number of deaths to 1,529.

According to data from the Balearic Epidemiology Service, in the past 24 hours Mallorca has registered 41 positive cases, Minorca four, Ibiza six and Formentera none. Of the rest (two) there is no island or municipality of residence.

The cumulative incidence rate for 14 days stands at 43.1 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, while the positivity rate has fallen to 14.34 percent in the last week.

By island, the one with the highest incidence rate is Mallorca, with 46.4 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, followed by Minorca (33.4), Ibiza (32.7) and Menorca (33.4).