The incidence of acute respiratory infections (ARI) in the Basque Country fell significantly last week (January 15-21) to 562.9 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, compared with 717.4 cases per 100,000 inhabitants in the previous seven days.
The evolution broke a two-week winning streak. In the case of influenza, its incidence has declined after rising for five weeks.
The latest ARI rate monitoring report published by the Basque Ministry of Health on Wednesday confirmed that the number of serious infections continues to decline, with the number of cases requiring hospitalization falling from 33.8 cases per 100,000 inhabitants in the first week of the year. The second is 24.5 and the latter is 21.1.
By age group, the highest ARI infection rate was in the 0 to 4-year-old group, with 1,947.2 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, up from 1,572.9 cases in the previous week.
The highest incidence of these diseases is found in the province of Gipuzcoa, with 614.6 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, ahead of Vizcaya (567.1) and Álava (436.4).
The influenza incidence rate in Basqueti fell after five consecutive weeks of increases, reaching 54.9 cases per 100,000 inhabitants (compared to 76.7 the previous week and 72.2 in the first week of the year).
As for COVID-19, the seven-day cumulative incidence rate among people aged 60 and above was 23.7, a decrease of 6 cases from the previous week.
In the third week of this year, there were 98 COVID-19 hospitalizations (compared to 110 the previous week), with 87.8% of hospitalized patients aged 60 or older.
In terms of bronchiolitis, among children under two years old, the number was the same as the previous week, with 266.9 cases, an increase of 3 cases.Effie