No 1005 Monday 8th - Sunday 14th January 2024
office@theleader.info
637 227 385
Now in our 21st year of keeping people safe and informed - The Costa Blanca’s oldest ‘FREE’ English language newspaper
SEE PAGE 5
n Friday, Dr Marciano Gómez, the Minister of Health in the Valencian Community, announced the re-introduction of facemasks in hospitals and health centres, with immediate effect, due to the recent increase in cases of flu and respiratory infections. The action is introduced alongside those in the neighbouring Province of Murcia.
O
The measure was thought necessary due to the ongoing increase in the global rate of acute respiratory infections in Primary Care, currently 908.6 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, an increase from 806 over the previous week, and in general, at all levels of care, of 1,501 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, well above the Spanish average, which is 908.
H E A LT H R E - I N T R O D U C E S M A N D AT O R Y U S E OF MASKS IN HOSPITALS & MEDICAL CENTRES
The Ministry sent to the health departments of all three provinces an instruction that establishes the mandatory use of masks in health and social health centres as a preventive measure in the face of the resurgence of the respiratory virus infection. The instruction requires that the mandatory use of masks in health and social health centres is necessary in the following situations: Symptomatic people when in shared spaces Professionals who care for symptomatic cases People who work in Intensive Care Units and Units with Vulnerable Patients In hospital emergencies or primary care departments In places where patients and families are concentrated (Primary Care waiting rooms, hospital consultation areas).
CONTINUED ON PAGE 2