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Spain is already facing a “second wave” of the pandemic of the new coronavirus, defends a study developed by a hospital and a university in Catalonia known this Sunday, and which warns that it may reach other European countries in the coming days.
The study, dated September 2 (last Wednesday), is signed by the Germas Trias i Pujol University Hospital in Badalona (Barcelona) and by the Polytechnic University of Catalonia and has since been sent to the European Commission. Entitled “Analysis and forecast of covid-19 for the European Union (EU) – European Free Trade Association (EFTA) – United Kingdom”, in the Portuguese translation, the study warns European authorities that the current moment is crucial to halt a second wave.
If nothing is done in this direction, the researchers warn, Europe could return to a situation similar to that of March, when an uncontrolled transmission of the new coronavirus broke out.
In the document, researchers wonder why Spain is leading the number of new infections in this “second wave”, since it is a country with high temperatures and strong cultural customs that favor outdoor activities.
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The two research centers in the Spanish autonomous community of Catalonia explain that “The effect of bars and restaurants can have major repercussions on the evolution of epidemics”, spaces where prevention measures are much less respected by people than in other circumstances, namely physical distance and the use of individual protection masks.
The report mentions that the contagion rate is 20 times lower in outdoor spaces when compared to the incidence in closed spaces.
According to the latest official data, released on Friday by the Spanish Ministry of Health, Spain recorded that day 10,476 new cases of the covid-19 disease, an increase of almost 1,500 compared to Thursday, bringing to 498,989 the number of infected since the beginning of the pandemic.
For researchers, the key to understanding the current situation in Spain lies in the fact that the country has lifted restrictions on mobility, especially between provinces, before other EU countries, at a time when “the rate of positive cases could be three times higher than what was actually being detected ”. And as such, stressed the researchers, social activity increased significantly.
With almost half a million confirmed cases of infection since the beginning of the pandemic crisis, Spain remains at a distance from other European countries, such as Italy (more than 277 thousand cases), France (324,777), United Kingdom (347,152 ) or Portugal (60,258), according to the most recent data.
Figures cited by the Spanish agency EFE, and referenced in the study, indicate that Spain also distances itself from other European countries when analyzing the incidence of new cases in the last 14 days per 100 thousand inhabitants, with 216.8 infections, ahead of France (98 , 2), Romania (69.9), Ukraine (65.7), Belgium (49.2) and the Netherlands (40.4).
Spain also led, on September 1, the parameter of the total accumulated incidence per hundred thousand inhabitants in Europe, with 1,002 infected, followed by Sweden (837), Belgium (737), Portugal (571), Romania (461), Italy ( 447), France (438), the Netherlands (415) and Germany (292), according to the same study, cited by EFE.
The alert made in the study already has, in fact, translation in several European countries who are witnessing an increase in the number of infected people as society reopens after confinement and there is a greater movement of people. For example, France recorded 8,975 new cases of covid-19 last Friday, an absolute record since the beginning of the pandemic in the country.
This Sunday, UK authorities announced 2,988 new infections with the new coronavirus in the past 24 hours, the highest daily number of new cases since May 23. On Saturday, Portugal registered another 486 new cases of covid-19, a number that was not so high since the beginning of the deflation.
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