Flu is spreading faster across the Valencian Community. According to À Punt, citing SiVIRA, the regional health department's (Conselleria de Sanitat) respiratory infection surveillance system, acute respiratory infections (IRA) caused by flu reached 28.2 cases per 100,000 residents in week 44 (26 October to 1 November). A week earlier the figure was 6.7. The source describes this as a fourfold rise, or 300%. Covid remains the dominant respiratory virus, at 52.7 cases per 100,000 against 53.3 the week before. Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV, known in Spanish as VRS), the main cause of bronchiolitis in infants, is still at zero.
Combined incidence of IRA (flu, covid-19 and RSV) was 722.6 per 100,000, up 8.5% from 665.8 in week 43 (19-25 October). Among children under 4 the rate rose 15.6%, to 3,467.2 per 100,000 (from 2,999.4). Among people over 65 it rose 3.4%, to 692.9 (from 670.2). Severe infections requiring hospital admission edged down, to 11.1 per 100,000 from 11.6.
From 5 November, a flu jab no longer requires an appointment (cita previa). You can get vaccinated at your health centre (centro de salud) during the vaccination hours that each centre sets. According to the Conselleria de Sanitat, more than 900,000 doses have been given since the campaign began: 559,332 against flu and 321,682 against covid. There were also 15,708 doses of monoclonal antibody against RSV for infants and 5,907 doses of RSV vaccine for the groups it is recommended for. These figures cover the whole Valencian Community. The source gives no breakdown for Alicante province or the coastal towns, and no vaccination hours for individual health centres.
