Cases of flu in the Balearics have been well below the national average. Some 96 cases per 100,000 inhabitants have been typical, while between 14 and 20 March there was an increase to 197 per 100,000 people in the country as a whole. This represented a slight increase over the previous week. The highest number was at the end of February when there were 210 cases.
The latest report into the flu from the Carlos III Institute of Epidemiology says that there have been nine weeks during which the epidemic threshold has been crossed. It adds that it isn't clear if the peak of this epidemic has been reached; it may well be that there will be a "prolonged" wave of epidemic.
The Valencia region has recently been the most affected in terms of increased numbers, while there has been a general rise in the number of cases among the five to fourteen-year-old age group. Though Valencia has experienced this increase (to 382), the impact of flu is less acute there than in Aragon. It has the highest numbers of cases in the country: 570, but the situation in that region is said to have "stabilised".
The comparatively low incidence of flu in the Balearics places the islands among the less affected regions of Spain. Flu cases per 100,000 inhabitants in the Basque Country are currently 95, while in Asturias they are 94 and in the Canaries 75.
Up until now, there have been 177 flu-related deaths in Spain and 2,170 serious cases needing intensive hospital care.