Focus on hospitalisation and not Covid infection numbers, urges the head of the Junta

In a context of hundreds of thousands of daily Covid-19 infections but with a level of hospitalisation far below previous waves, Juanma Moreno said the emphasis should not be on the high number of infections but rather on the lower number of patients entering hospital or dying.

“The level of clinical incidence is much lower than in previous waves, so I think we should not emphasise the number of infections. Knowing that infections are much milder, I think that it is not the level of incidence that we have to take into account, but rather the level of clinical incidence," Moreno said at a press conference in Malaga on 4 January.

“We have to consider the number who go to hospitals, or go to an intensive care unit or, sadly, dies. We must change the parameters," Moreno said adding that it is still necessary to underline that some people experience Covid-19 “in a serious way”.

In addition to adapting the way statistical information about Covid-19 is interpreted, Moreno said there is “constant debate” about the length of quarantines.

“There are people who are going through the infection without symptoms or with mild symptoms. It does not make much sense for them to be at home for a week,” he said.

“It is true that quarantines are causing many problems in the productive sphere. The level of infection is very high and it is blocking entire companies that are now unable to carry out their functions,” he said. However, while there should be “calm refection”, the decision should be based on science not politics, he added.