The Ministry of Health has notified this afternoon (Thursday), that after analyzing the evolution of epidemiological data of all the Canary Islands, that Gran Canaria is reduced to Level 3 due to the improvement of its indicators. The rest of the islands remain at the same alert level for at least another week, which means that Tenerife continues at level 4; Fuerteventura, at level 3; La Palma and Lanzarote at level 2, and La Gomera and El Hierro at level 1. The changes in levels will take effect tonight from midnight on Friday, August 27th.
This decision is based on the report of the General Directorate of Public Health which highlights the downward trend of all pandemic indicators both in the Canary Islands as a whole and in each of the islands. The average of the Accumulated Incidence rate at seven days in the Autonomous Community as a whole, and in the islands, has decreased by 34% compared to the previous week, which corroborates the downward evolution of this indicator, going from a daily average of 139.5 cases per 100,000 inhabitants to 92.5 cases per 100,000 inhabitants this week.
The report highlights that in the week from August 18th to 24th, there were 1,771 cases of coronavirus reported, which represents a decrease in the daily average of the number of reported cases of around 29% compared to the previous week. All the islands have followed this pattern, except for Fuerteventura, which has remained stable this week.
In relation to the rates of IA7 in the population aged 65 and over, a decrease is observed both in the archipelago as a whole and in each island. In Tenerife the rate is at high risk, in Gran Canaria it ranges from high to medium, in Fuerteventura it is at medium risk, and in the rest of the islands the level is low or very low.
Regarding the characterization of the variants that are circulating in the Canary Islands, according to the data of the last epidemiological week, it is estimated that 86.3% are Delta (B.1.617.2), 1.5% Alpha (B .1.1.7) and 0.2% Beta (B.1.351) / Gamma (P1).
COVID-19 bed occupancy in hospitals and ICU:
The number of beds in wards occupied by COVID-19 patients is in decline in the islands, thus in the whole of the Islands, it has gone from a daily average of 291 occupied beds to 256. The percentage of occupancy is at low risk or very low in all the islands except Tenerife, which is at medium risk.
The number of occupied ICU beds began with signs of a slight change in its evolution with respect to the previous week. The Community as a whole has gone from an average of 106 occupied ICU beds to an average of 97 in the last week. In Tenerife, the decrease is 5 beds on average and in Gran Canaria, it is 4 compared to the previous week.
In Fuerteventura, four people remain in the ICU and in Lanzarote, there is only one occupied bed and another admission in this unit, while in the rest of the islands they do not have patients in the ICU. Regarding this indicator, the percentage of occupancy in ICUs is at very high risk in Tenerife and at high risk in Gran Canaria. In the rest of the islands, the risk for this indicator is very low.
