In the last two weeks, the epidemiological situation in the Canary Islands has improved remarkably, and yesterday all the islands presented indicators that placed them at medium and low risk levels due to the contagion of the virus, including Tenerife, whose alert level could go from Level 3 to Level 2 this afternoon, if the Canary Islands Government decides so, in light of the consolidation in the decline in infections on the island.
Yesterday the Canary Islands recorded a cumulative incidence over seven days of 45.2 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, which 20 points less than two weeks ago. Gran Canaria, El Hierro and Fuerteventura, do however, present some indicators in red or brown level due to high or very high risk.
On El Hierro, transmission markers were triggered two weeks ago by the impact of an outbreak, increasing the accumulated incidence rates over 7 (IA7) and 14 (IA14) days to 25 and 269 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, respectively. But, as the Government has stressed before, it is important to remember that there are only 11,000 residents of the island so these figures are high for the number of cases, and don’t really affect the overall incidence rates for the islands as the population is so low.
In Fuerteventura, the only parameter in red is that of traceability, since only 36% of recent cases have been associated with an outbreak, while Gran Canaria only has one indicator at high risk, all be it be of the most important ones: that of the occupancy level of ICU beds for Covid patients, which is currently 17%. However, the pressure on the health system in the rest of the hospital beds is at a low level.
After El Hierro, the island with the highest cumulative incidence rate over seven days (IA7) is Tenerife, with 58.5 cases per 100,000 inhabitants. Lanzarote follows with an IA7 of 48, and the two islands with the lowest level are Fuerteventura with an IA7 of 9 infections per 100,000 inhabitants, and La Gomera where the incidence is zero, since no infection has been registered in the last week.
An announcement is expected around 5pm today regarding a level change for Tenerife, after the data has been reviewed, and it is expected to be that the island drops to alert Level 2 and the interior of bars and restaurants can open again to the public.
