The flu continues to wreak havoc despite confirmation of a stabilization of infections, which have fallen from an estimated incidence of 766 to 543 cases per 100,000 inhabitants. The figures for the last week – that which extends from December 15 to 21 -, published by the Information System for Infection Surveillance in Catalonia (SIVIC), remain at historic highs on the eve of Christmas Eve. Diagnosed cases or observed incidence also remain high and increased from 407 to 327 per 100,000 inhabitants. In an overall assessment of the last epidemiological week, the incidence of all acute respiratory infections (ARI) is 1,102 affected per 100,000 inhabitants, a figure equivalent to 89,463 cases which exceeds the high level of transmission.
The Primary Care Centers (CAP), although with 3,000 fewer diagnoses than the previous week, received an influx of 30,298 sick patients, of which 25,819 were under 60 years old. The Ministry of Health signaled this Tuesday the need not to let down our guard in the face of what it predicts will be a difficult Christmas and does not rule out, although having reached the peak, a certain rebound after the holidays.
Given the suspicion of this rebound, the Government will extend from this Wednesday the resolution which requires the use of masks in health and social centers. “Half of respiratory infections are due to influenza, with a high level of transmission. We do not attribute the decrease in incidence to this measure, but it has contributed to it. That is why we think it is time to extend it,” explained the Secretary of Public Health, Esteve Fernández, during a press conference.
The department celebrated that the vaccination campaign bore fruit by increasing the doses provided by 120,000 compared to the previous year. The flu vaccination rate in 2025 was 1,300,000 people. “The more vaccination there is, the less severity there is. The effectiveness of the vaccine is 65%, that is why we are calmer because the degree of immunity is very effective,” Fernández emphasized.
The distribution of viruses shows that influenza is the most predominant, with 49.3% of samples, followed by rhinovirus (17.3%) and RSV (7.8%). SARS-COV2 remains stable at low levels of transmission, with an estimated incidence of eight cases per 100,000 inhabitants, according to the latest SIVIC data.
Hospitals, even far from normal activity, have reduced the saturation of emergencies. Over the past seven days, total emergencies decreased by 9%, reaching an average rate lower than the cumulative rate over the past 30 days, with 2.4 emergency cases per 100,000 residents. The deputy director of Catsalut, Pilar Otermin, clarified that only 11% of emergencies last week required hospitalization and that the department has not detected an increase in mortality in hospitals. Emergencies in CUAPs also decreased by 19%.
Otermin explained that the Catalonia Global Emergency Plan (PIUC) for the 2025-2026 season consists of a budget of 37 million euros distributed between primary, intermediate and hospital care managed by the Health Regions with their respective emergency plans. Hospital emergencies also decreased by 6.2%, the same as the cumulative rate, with 1.3 per 100,000 inhabitants, compared to 1.4 the previous week.
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