Kirsty Mckenzie
THE Carranque Hospital, which was built to support Spain’s pandemic response, is in the process of being dismantled this week.
Created in April last year, the Junta ordered the Carranque Hospital to be created inside the sports centre in Malaga as cases began to spiral during the first wave of the virus.
But the emergency hospital was not required and various elements of the hospital are now in the decommissioning process. The 400 beds have already been removed and the rest of the equipment will be taken away on Monday.
The 1,500 square metre site will now be fully disassembled as the venue prepares to once again become a sports facility by the start of next year.
It comes as the number of patients in hospitals with the disease has dropped to 74, with just 18 people in Intensive Care Units (ICU)— the lowest it has been since August 23 of last year where there were 71 patients in Malaga’s hospitals.
According to data from the Regional Ministry of Health and Families of Andalucia, the continual decline in hospital pressure caused by COVID-19 is a clear sign of the high vaccination rate in Andalucia, whereas the numbers achieved last summer were a result of 3 months of home confinement and strict lockdown.
This Tuesday, October 5, was the fourth consecutive day with no new ICU admissions in Malaga hospitals due to COVID-19.
Additionally, four of the six health districts in the province have dipped below the cumulative incidence rate of 50 per 100,000 inhabitants in the last 14 days—one of the thresholds set to transition to Alert Level 0
The Malaga health districts which may see restrictions on capacity and opening hours eliminated and join the Serrania Health District, already at Alert Level 0, are the following: Axarquia, with an incidence rate of 49.4, Malaga (42.8) and Valle del Guadalhorce (46.7).
If the rates remain at or below this level and the other data are favourable, the territorial committee of High Impact Public Health Alerts, due to meet later on today, will decree the elimination of the restrictions in these districts.
READ MORE:
- Spain’s Malaga City on target to drop to Alert Level 0 and see lifting of COVID-19 restrictions
- EXPLAINER: These are the new COVID-19 measures—including face mask rules—in Spain’s Andalucia
