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ARCHIVED - Round-up of Covid news stories relating to Murcia: Friday 18th September
Lots of short snips relating to what's happened around the region today relating to covid
Murcian Health Authority buying half a million rapid antigen tests
These can achieve a test result in 15 minutes
Although there has been no official confirmation at this point, La Verdad reported on Friday that the Murcian Government was buying half a million antigen tests which would be used to speed up covid testing in situations in which speed was of the essence. The paper suggested that the antigen tests would be used in situations such as when cases were detected in schools, for example, to quickly ascertain if a problem extended to the whole class or before pupils returned to school after a break.
The antigen tests are becoming increasingly popular with the authorities because they give quick results, with a fairly reliable result available in just 15 minutes, without the need to send the test off to a laboratory.
They are also inexpensive; the brand the Murcian government is buying, the Abbott Pharmaceuticals Panbio Covid-19 tester, licensed by the EU at the beginning of September, has already been purchased by the Andalucian and Madrid governments, costing 4 euros each.
What are the three types of test currently available?
PCR test; PCR (polymerise chain reaction) Only detect the presence of an antigen, rather than the presence of the body’s immune response, or antibodies, so can tell if someone has the virus NOW and can detect the presence of the virus without symptoms showing, so good for early detection. However, can be sensitive and detect fragments of antibodies after the individual is NO LONGER CONTAGIOUS, if the sensitivity of the test is set too low. There is no standardised measure ofr the sensitivity settings used on these tests, so they are getting a bashing on social media for unreliability, in most cases, unjustifiably.They are also expensive, slow and require laboratory facilities.
Antibody test: Reveals if a person has already been exposed to an infection, by detecting antibodies in their blood or serum. Antibody tests are not usually used to diagnose current infection as it takes the body some time to produce antibodies.NOT used to detect current infection.
Antigen test: An antigen test reveals if a person is currently infected with a pathogen such as the SARS-CoV-2 virus. They are cheap and quick, but not 100% accurate. However, they are accurate to between 98-99% which is deemed as “good enough” in most cases. These are now being used, for example, in countries such as Italy at airport arrivals, giving sufficient peace of mind for the authorities to permit the entry of a traveller, and speeding up testing significantly.
Regional hostelry sector wants testing to attarct more tourists to the region
It's obviously been a difficult summer for the hostelry sector and with 90% of coastal hotels set to close for the winter, the body representing the sector, Hostetur, had a number of points to discuss when meeting with the regional Minister for tourism.
Quarantining has lost a significant amount of business for the sector this autumn and Hostetur was keen to put forward its point of view that the use of testing (possibly the new antigen tests) in the regional airport and in hotels, rural lodgings and campsites, would help to install confidence in the Murcian tourism offering.Obviously, the body is hoping that the regional government will agree to pay for the testing, rather than the hotels themselves.
72 elderly have died in the care homes of the region since the beginning of the pandemic.
The number of elderly who have died in care homes in the Region since the beginning of the pandemic totals 72, of which 66 died in the first wave and another six in the second, according to figures provided by the Community itself. At the national level, the number of deaths in these centers officially recorded amounts to 23,242, although some regional authorities have not fully updated their figures for several months.The majority of care home deaths have not been included in the national fatalaities total as during the first wave there was insufficient testing material and those who died within the home environment were regularly not tested.
Mazarrón town hall closes due to covid positive: Yesterday Mazarrón reported 10 new cases of covid. All presencial appointments in the town hall building for Friday are cancelled until Tuesday 22nd.
Later in the day the council also announced the closure of the Centro Cultural de Mazarrón which houses the Universidad Popular and the municipal library in Mazarrón town, due to the positive case in a cleaner. All staff will be PCR tested and the building given a deep disinfection.
Totana: Schools in Totana will remain closed for a further week due to the rising number of cases in the municipality. For the moment no further measures are being taken. 55-60% of the cases in the municipality were today attributed to leisure activities and 40-45% to work contacts.
Lorca, Jumilla, Lorquí; Schools will remain closed in all three municipalities. Lorca and Jumilla will continue in phase 1 flexibilised confinement.
Caravaca de la Cruz: Archivel will leave the flexibilised phase one confinement of the last 2 weeks as only six cases have been detected in the last week. At one point the pedanía had an AI rate of 1,500 per 100,000 of population; this has now dropped to 500.
San Javier: The council supplies municipal staff with a "Kit Covid". This includes 2 re-usable masks, a bottle of disinfectant hand gel and a disinfectant spray, together with instructions, and all branded with the town hall logo!. All of the staff working for the town hall have been PCR tested and none yielded a positive result.
Murcia City: the Gran Vía will be closed to traffic on Sunday to allow Murcianos to walk and social distance.
Torre Pacheco: With 185 active cases, inclñuding 13 in the last 24 hours, Torre Pacheco is now ramping up its public disinfections rota and has decided to now close all children's play areas in the municipality, so in outlying districts as well as the main town, these areas are all being sealed off.
Cieza: 4 workers at the SUAP centre test positive.(attached to a health centre, handles emergencies). A man was also hospitalised in Cieza the day after attending a communion when already ill.
Murcian health service has recruited 1500 additional new staff in the last few months to cope with the pandemic said the regional health minister: in the month of August of this year, the Murcian Health Service has 1,500 more professionals than in the same month of 2019, a total of 867 more professionals for Specialized Care, and 357 more than the previous year for Primary Care, taking into account that this year's newly qualified residents will also be incorporated throughout this month of September (347 in total have a place awarded in the Region).
Six new positives in schools of the Murcia Region; 142 teachers and pupils quarantined as a result.
Six new positives forced the quarantining of 99 students and 31 teachers on Friday in addition to those detected earlier in the week:
Mare Nostrum school in Cartagena, the contagion of a student forced two teachers to be quarantined.
Santa Florentina school in Cartagena; eight children and three teachers quarantined due to the positive of a nursery school student.
Juan XXIII school in Murcia; a teacher and ten students quarantined. Also nursery school.
MonteAzahar school, in Las Torres de Cotillas; positive in a student forced ten classmates and three teachers to quarantine.
Center El Taller in Molina de Segura; four students and a teacher in quarantine.
Miguel Delibes school in Puerto de Mazarrón; two teachers and ten students in quarantine due to one positive in a pupil.
Murcia announced 2 deaths and 675 new covid cases diagnosed in the last 24 hours, the highest figure ever. Click to read the full article