The number of COVID-19 cases in Spain amounted to around 13.9 million as of June 28, 2023. As of that date, the Spanish authorities had confirmed approximately 121,760 deaths as a result of complications stemming from the disease, most of them reported in Madrid and Catalonia, with 21,361 deaths and 21,241 casualties related to COVID-19, respectively.Find the most up-to-date information about the coronavirus pandemic in the world under Statista’s COVID-19 facts and figures site.

Objectives

To compare the flow of COVID-19 patients in emergency rooms and hospital wards between the pandemic; first and second waves; at the University Hospital of Vall d'Hebron (Barcelona, Spain), and to compare the profiles, severity and mortality of COVID-19 patients between the two waves.

Methods

Retrospective observational analysis of COVID-19 patients attending the hospital from February 24 to April 26, 2020 (first wave) and from July 24, 2020, to May 18, 2021 (second wave). We analysed the data of the Electronic Medical Records on patient demographics, comorbidity, severity and mortality.

Results

The daily number of COVID-19 patients entering the ER dropped by 65% during the second wave compared to the first wave. During the second wave, patients entering the ER were significantly younger (61 vs 63 y.o. p<0.001) and less severely affected (39% vs 48% with a triage level of resuscitation or emergency; p<0.001). ER mortality declined during the second wave (1% vs 2%; p<0.000). The daily number of hospitalised COVID-19 patients dropped by 75% during the second wave. Those hospitalised during the second wave were more severely affected (20% vs. 10%; p<0.001) and were derived to the intensive care unit (ICU) more frequently (21% vs 15%; p<0.001). Inpatient mortality showed no significant difference between the two waves.

Conclusions

Changes in the flow, severity and mortality of COVID-19 patients entering this tertiary hospital during the two waves may reflect a better adaptation of the health system and the improvement of knowledge on the disease.

The cumulative number of COVID-19 cases in Spain amounted to nearly 14 million as of May 11, 2025. Since Spain confirmed its first case, the authorities have reported approximately 122,000 deaths as a result of complications stemming from the disease, most of them in Madrid. COVID-19: background information COVID-19 is a disease caused by a novel coronavirus that had not previously been identified in humans. The first case was detected in the Hubei province of China at the end of December 2019. Multiple cases have been reported each day. At the beginning of the pandemic, few was known regarding the virus. Though some aspects still remain unclear, more information has been collected since the outbreak started, allowing a better understanding of the disease and its prevention and treatment, including the production of new vaccines. Immunization in Spain As of May 24, 2023, around 87 percent of the population in Spain had received at least one dose of a vaccine against COVID-19. Moreover, approximately 86 percent were already fully vaccinated. As of August 5, 2022, the number of pre-ordered doses of COVID-19 vaccines in the country amounted to 283.3 million, more than half of which were produced by Pfizer/BioNTech. Find the most up-to-date information about the coronavirus pandemic in the world under Statista’s COVID-19 facts and figures site.

Supplementary material, Confidence in a vaccine against Covid-19 among registered nurses in Barcelona, Spain across two time periods. For further information please refer to ext_dpalma@aspb.cat

In 2022, the cruise passenger traffic in the port of Barcelona exhibited a strong recovery from the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. October registered the highest number of cruise passengers in that Spanish port, reaching more than *** thousand.

In 2022, Barcelona-El Prat (BCN) was the airport that was still most impacted by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic out of the top ten Spanish airports. In that year, El Prat registered 21 percent less passenger traffic than in 2019. By contrast, Lanzarote airport (ACE) had surpassed its pre-pandemic number of passengers by 0.8 percent.

Patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) frequently develop acute encephalopathy and encephalitis, but whether these complications are the result from viral-induced cytokine storm syndrome or anti-neural autoimmunity is still unclear. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the diagnostic and prognostic role of CSF and serum biomarkers of inflammation (a wide array of cytokines, antibodies against neural antigens, and IgG oligoclonal bands), and neuroaxonal damage (14-3-3 protein and neurofilament light [NfL]) in patients with acute COVID-19 and associated neurologic manifestations (neuro-COVID). We prospectively included 60 hospitalized neuro-COVID patients, 25 (42%) of them with encephalopathy and 14 (23%) with encephalitis, and followed them for 18 months. We found that, compared to healthy controls (HC), neuro-COVID patients presented elevated levels of IL-18, IL-6, and IL-8 in both serum and CSF. MCP1 was elevated only in CSF, while IL-10, IL-1RA, IP-10, MIG and NfL were increased only in serum. Patients with COVID-associated encephalitis or encephalopathy had distinct serum and CSF cytokine profiles compared with HC, but no differences were found when both clinical groups were compared to each other. Antibodies against neural antigens were negative in both groups. While the levels of neuroaxonal damage markers, 14-3-3 and NfL, and the proinflammatory cytokines IL-18, IL-1RA and IL-8 significantly associated with acute COVID-19 severity, only the levels of 14-3-3 and NfL in CSF significantly correlated with the degree of neurologic disability in the daily activities at 18 months follow-up. Thus, the inflammatory process promoted by SARS-CoV-2 infection might include blood-brain barrier disruption in patients with neurological involvement. In conclusion, the fact that the levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines do not predict the long-term functional outcome suggests that the prognosis is more related to neuronal damage than to the acute neuroinflammatory process.

La Liga, Spain’s top soccer competition, is widely considered the second biggest domestic soccer property in the world behind the Premier League, with its top sides Barcelona and Real Madrid the most followed and supported around the world. Having been able to ensure a completed season, a worst case scenario of a $1.16 billion loss has been avoided, but challenges still remain in ensuring La Liga’s product remains competitive and desirable to an international audience Read More

Based on a selection of 63 tech-related conferences scheduled to take place in 2020, 44 events have either been modified to take place entirely online, or postponed to a later date in response to the outbreak of the coronavirus (COVID-19).

The majority of events that claim to be proceeding as planned are scheduled for August or later. The SAP Sapphire Now conference, currently scheduled to occur from May 12 to May 14 in Orlando, Florida, is the earliest event not to have changed their statust.

Several big-name conferences are among the cancellations, including the Mobile World Congress Barcelona, Facebook F8 and Google I/O.

Dataset about acute gastroenteritis outbreaks reported between January 2017 and December 2021 in Catalonia, a region in Northeast of Iberian Peninsula with a population of 7,543,825 inhabitants in January 2018. Data was collected by technicians from the Epidemiological Surveillance Services of the Catalan Public Health Agency and the Barcelona Public Health Agency The etiological confirmation of outbreaks was carried out by collecting stool samples and their subsequent microbiological analysis at the Vall d'Hebron University Hospital laboratory or at the Barcelona Public Health Agency laboratory. In outbreaks in which viral aetiology was suspected, real-time RT-PCR was performed to identify the presence of enteric viruses.

BackgroundTwo years since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic no predictive algorithm has been generally adopted for clinical management and in most algorithms the contribution of laboratory variables is limited.ObjectivesTo measure the predictive performance of currently used clinical laboratory tests alone or combined with clinical variables and explore the predictive power of immunological tests adequate for clinical laboratories. Methods: Data from 2,600 COVID-19 patients of the first wave of the pandemic in the Barcelona area (exploratory cohort of 1,579, validation cohorts of 598 and 423 patients) including clinical parameters and laboratory tests were retrospectively collected. 28-day survival and maximal severity were the main outcomes considered in the multiparametric classical and machine learning statistical analysis. A pilot study was conducted in two subgroups (n=74 and n=41) measuring 17 cytokines and 27 lymphocyte phenotypes respectively.Findings1) Despite a strong association of clinical and laboratory variables with the outcomes in classical pairwise analysis, the contribution of laboratory tests to the combined prediction power was limited by redundancy. Laboratory variables reflected only two types of processes: inflammation and organ damage but none reflected the immune response, one major determinant of prognosis. 2) Eight of the thirty variables: age, comorbidity index, oxygen saturation to fraction of inspired oxygen ratio, neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio, C-reactive protein, aspartate aminotransferase/alanine aminotransferase ratio, fibrinogen, and glomerular filtration rate captured most of the combined statistical predictive power. 3) The interpretation of clinical and laboratory variables was moderately improved by grouping them in two categories i.e., inflammation related biomarkers and organ damage related biomarkers; Age and organ damage-related biomarker tests were the best predictors of survival, and inflammatory-related ones were the best predictors of severity. 4) The pilot study identified immunological tests (CXCL10, IL-6, IL-1RA and CCL2), that performed better than most currently used laboratory tests.ConclusionsLaboratory tests for clinical management of COVID 19 patients are valuable but limited predictors due to redundancy; this limitation could be overcome by adding immunological tests with independent predictive power. Understanding the limitations of tests in use would improve their interpretation and simplify clinical management but a systematic search for better immunological biomarkers is urgent and feasible.

El Raval nord. Poble sec est. Sant Gervasi-Galvany est. La Prosperitat. Media nacional

BackgroundTwo years since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic no predictive algorithm has been generally adopted for clinical management and in most algorithms the contribution of laboratory variables is limited.ObjectivesTo measure the predictive performance of currently used clinical laboratory tests alone or combined with clinical variables and explore the predictive power of immunological tests adequate for clinical laboratories. Methods: Data from 2,600 COVID-19 patients of the first wave of the pandemic in the Barcelona area (exploratory cohort of 1,579, validation cohorts of 598 and 423 patients) including clinical parameters and laboratory tests were retrospectively collected. 28-day survival and maximal severity were the main outcomes considered in the multiparametric classical and machine learning statistical analysis. A pilot study was conducted in two subgroups (n=74 and n=41) measuring 17 cytokines and 27 lymphocyte phenotypes respectively.Findings1) Despite a strong association of clinical and laboratory variables with the outcomes in classical pairwise analysis, the contribution of laboratory tests to the combined prediction power was limited by redundancy. Laboratory variables reflected only two types of processes: inflammation and organ damage but none reflected the immune response, one major determinant of prognosis. 2) Eight of the thirty variables: age, comorbidity index, oxygen saturation to fraction of inspired oxygen ratio, neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio, C-reactive protein, aspartate aminotransferase/alanine aminotransferase ratio, fibrinogen, and glomerular filtration rate captured most of the combined statistical predictive power. 3) The interpretation of clinical and laboratory variables was moderately improved by grouping them in two categories i.e., inflammation related biomarkers and organ damage related biomarkers; Age and organ damage-related biomarker tests were the best predictors of survival, and inflammatory-related ones were the best predictors of severity. 4) The pilot study identified immunological tests (CXCL10, IL-6, IL-1RA and CCL2), that performed better than most currently used laboratory tests.ConclusionsLaboratory tests for clinical management of COVID 19 patients are valuable but limited predictors due to redundancy; this limitation could be overcome by adding immunological tests with independent predictive power. Understanding the limitations of tests in use would improve their interpretation and simplify clinical management but a systematic search for better immunological biomarkers is urgent and feasible.

Demographic characteristics and antibody reactivity of participants.

The pacified streets of the city of Barcelona refer to the so-called "eixos verds de l'Eixample", a qualification that was established as a result of the actions in relation to COVID-19.

Air Quality Forecast: Contaminant Concentration: PM2.5: Spain: Barcelona data was reported at 18.860 mcg/Cub m in 22 May 2025. This records an increase from the previous number of 17.108 mcg/Cub m for 21 May 2025. Air Quality Forecast: Contaminant Concentration: PM2.5: Spain: Barcelona data is updated daily, averaging 11.654 mcg/Cub m from Oct 2019 (Median) to 22 May 2025, with 2038 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 82.557 mcg/Cub m in 05 Mar 2021 and a record low of 1.513 mcg/Cub m in 28 Jan 2025. Air Quality Forecast: Contaminant Concentration: PM2.5: Spain: Barcelona data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by CEIC Data. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Spain – Table CAMS.AQF: Air Quality Forecast: Contaminant Concentration: PM2.5: by Cities. [COVID-19-IMPACT]

The number of passengers traveling to and from Barcelona on international trains totaled nearly 346 thousand in 2021, increasing after the harsh decline caused by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Throughout the second half of the 2010s, the international train passenger traffic in the Spanish city surpassed 800 thousand people each year.

In the 2019/2020 season, the net revenue of the football teams in Spain's LaLiga (excluding Granada and Cadiz) dropped by nearly four percent compared to the previous season. FC Barcelona and Real Madrid recorded the most significant declines, with their revenues falling by 77 million euros and 42 million euros, respectively.

Number of Establishments: Public Administration: Northeast: Rio Grande do Norte: Barcelona data was reported at 0.000 Unit in Mar 2025. This stayed constant from the previous number of 0.000 Unit for Feb 2025. Number of Establishments: Public Administration: Northeast: Rio Grande do Norte: Barcelona data is updated monthly, averaging 0.000 Unit from Jun 2012 (Median) to Mar 2025, with 154 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 0.000 Unit in Mar 2025 and a record low of 0.000 Unit in Mar 2025. Number of Establishments: Public Administration: Northeast: Rio Grande do Norte: Barcelona data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by Ministry of Health. The data is categorized under Brazil Premium Database’s Health Sector – Table BR.HLB020: Number of Establishments: by Municipality: Northeast: Rio Grande do Norte. [COVID-19-IMPACT]

Number of Beds: Nonprofit Entities: Northeast: Rio Grande do Norte: Barcelona data was reported at 0.000 Unit in Mar 2025. This stayed constant from the previous number of 0.000 Unit for Feb 2025. Number of Beds: Nonprofit Entities: Northeast: Rio Grande do Norte: Barcelona data is updated monthly, averaging 0.000 Unit from Jun 2012 (Median) to Mar 2025, with 154 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 0.000 Unit in Mar 2025 and a record low of 0.000 Unit in Mar 2025. Number of Beds: Nonprofit Entities: Northeast: Rio Grande do Norte: Barcelona data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by Ministry of Health. The data is categorized under Brazil Premium Database’s Health Sector – Table BR.HLB052: Number of Beds: by Municipality: Northeast: Rio Grande do Norte. [COVID-19-IMPACT]