COVID-19 cases in Spain surge over New Year

Madrid (Spain), January 4: The Spanish Ministry of Health on Monday announced a huge rise in the number of COVID-19 cases in the country over the New Year.
The country registered 372,766 new cases of the virus from Dec. 30 to Monday, taking the total number of infections to 6,667,511 in Spain since the start of the pandemic.
A total of 168 deaths were reported over this period, meaning that 89,573 people have lost their lives due to the virus in the country.
The 14-day incidence rate of COVID-19 saw an unprecedented rise of 520 points over the four days to 2,295 cases per 100,000 inhabitants.
This is the highest 14-day incidence rate ever recorded in the country, and the first time it has crossed the 2,000-case benchmark.
The Ministry reported that the highly contagious Omicron variant was responsible for 43 percent of all cases in Spain.
The country's vaccination campaign is continuing at a rapid pace, with 90.3 percent of the population aged 12 or over having received two doses of a vaccine.
A total of 11 million booster shots have also been administered, while nearly one million children aged between five and 11 have been given their first shot, according to official figures.
Source: Xinhua