As the Bulletin reported yesterday, hospitals in the Balearics are treating 220 patients for Covid today, 37.5% more than seven days ago, during which time five more deaths from the coronavirus have been recorded in Mallorca, bringing the official death toll to 1,421 in the Balearics since the pandemic began and experts fear that the islands could be facing a seventh wave of the virus.
It appears that the BA.5 subvariant of omicron is the most common in the islands, and is more contagious.
Over the past week, Son Espases Hospital microbiology laboratory has been observing an increase in the number of positives cases.
Most of them, they warn, are of the BA.5 subvariant of omicron, between 60% and 70%, which has set alarm bells ringing.
The symptoms of this new sub-strain "are very mild", says the spokesman for the regional committee on infectious diseases, Javier Arranz.
However, "immunity weakens three months after the last vaccine booster", he warns. And "yes, there is a significant increase, the feeling is that we are on an upward, accelerated trend," he added.