According to “THE PROVINCES”, according to estimates by the Valencia College of Pharmacists, a rebound in the number of cases of coronavirus infection recorded in the community since mid-July has triggered the sale of new coronavirus test kits in Valencia pharmacies, and it is possible to confirm this. At 1:00 on Friday, consulting firm IQVIA prepared an analysis report. Specifically, in the last week of July, community pharmacies delivered 22,830 virus test kits, a nearly three-fold increase (174% increase, to be specific) compared to the same period in June, according to data processed by the aforementioned companies.
In fact, the autonomous region, the second largest after Catalonia, sold the most testing units during these seven days; the third was in Navarra and the Basque Country, where the largest increases were recorded. This is not surprising since the spread of the coronavirus has greatly increased. In fact, as this newspaper reported yesterday, the official number of infections has doubled to more than 1,500 in just two weeks, implying a similar rate of new infections as in February last year (despite pressure on health centers Much smaller than it was) then).
At the national level, the report said the last week of July, from the 24th to the 31st, was a 112% increase compared to the end of June, when the last valley was located. Data obtained through 6,500 pharmacies showed that a total of 179,965 test kits were sold in Spain in the last week of July. While sales of such tests have increased, the numbers are still a far cry from last year, when nearly 4 million copies were sold in Spanish pharmacies.
In any case, after the Council of Ministers announced the end of the health alert on 4 July, which also ended the obligation to wear masks in social health centres, for example, the number of infections has declined and gradually increased until almost doubling in just two weeks. In addition, since April, Covid has been the respiratory virus with the highest incidence in community primary care centres, much higher than influenza or RSV (respiratory syncytial virus), which is responsible for most cases of bronchitis. Bronchiolitis in adults and children.
Thus, the start of the summer holidays (classes end at the end of June) led to an increase in case and test sales as travel and meetings with friends and family increased.