Spain hits 8 million COVID-19 cases

MADRID, Jan. 14 (Xinhua) -- Spain has logged 8 million cases of COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic, the Spanish Ministry of Health announced on Friday.

The Ministry confirmed 162,508 new cases of the virus for the period between 2 p.m. (1300 GMT) on Thursday to 2 p.m. on Friday, which brings the total number of infections since the start of the pandemic to 8,093,036.

The country had announced 6 million cases on Dec. 28, 2021 and 7 million on Jan. 8.

On Friday, the Ministry said there had been a further 139 deaths, bringing the total number of fatalities from the virus to 90,759. Meanwhile, the 14-day incidence rate climbed by 35.83 points to 3,192.46.

The Spanish Ministry of Education published Friday a report showing that 102,233 students in non-university education and 19,335 teachers are currently either in isolation or have tested positive for COVID-19.

The report was published just five days after children returned to school after the Christmas holidays, although not all of the infections will have been produced over that period.

On Thursday, the Spanish Public Health Commission agreed to extend the availability of booster doses to all citizens aged over 18, whereas previously they had only been available to over-40's.

The Health Commission also reduced the time between the second and third vaccine doses from six months to five, while people who have tested positive for COVID-19 will have to wait a month after recovering before they can receive their third shot.