Covid-19 continues to gain presence across the province of Alicante and throughout the Valencian Community at the start of autumn, although with a lighter rise in recent days compared to the rate recorded in mid-September, when it doubled. Meanwhile, flu still maintains a very low incidence, according to the latest data from the SiVIRA respiratory syndrome surveillance system of the Department of Health.
Flu surveillance reveals that there are fewer cases than in the latest bulletin, while covid cases rise to 129 per 100,000 inhabitants compared to 117 in the previous count. There are more cases, but the peak has slowed down after the incidence multiplied by two at the beginning of September. Overall, for viruses, the Community stands at 718 cases per 100,000 inhabitants compared to 537 in the previous week.
The increase in cases in primary care usually anticipates the impact on hospitals in a few weeks. Under-fours are experiencing a resurgence, with children under four years old already registering an incidence of 3,491 per 100,000 inhabitants, a level that places this age group once again among those most affected by respiratory infections.
This is almost double that of last week, when there were 2,332 cases, which also doubled the figure from the immediately preceding week. Since the start of September, infections have multiplied by four, as that month began with 1,244 cases. This rise is attributed by doctors to the resumption of school activities. The impact on those aged between 5 and 14 also grows considerably, exceeding a thousand cases, which is double in a week.
The increase in cases in primary care usually anticipates by two or three weeks the impact that can subsequently transfer to hospitals. Therefore, the evolution in these age groups becomes one of the main indicators to monitor during the start of the season due to infections passing on to adults and older people.
Data corresponding to the week of 21st to 27th September show a notable difference between both viruses in the samples analysed in primary care. Eighteen per cent of the samples analysed in health centres tested positive for SARS-CoV-2, and flu remained at 0.7%. Respiratory syncytial virus, the main cause of bronchiolitis, did not register any positive results in primary care during that week. These data correspond to samples taken randomly from patients.
Regarding hospital surveillance, in the hospitals of the province of Alicante, 14.9% of the samples analysed were positive for covid, compared to 2.1% positivity for flu. No positive cases for bronchiolitis were identified in hospital samples either.
Accumulated data since the start of the season show that coronavirus maintains a sustained presence in respiratory surveillance. Since week 40 of 2025, 8,620 samples have been analysed in primary care, with 316 positive results for SARS-CoV-2, representing 3.7%. In the same period, 8,612 samples have been processed for flu, with 394 positives, which assumes an accumulated positivity of 4.6%, meaning they are similar.
The bulletin also shows that severe cases of respiratory infection mainly affect older people. The average age of covid cases stands at 77 years and drops to 73.5 years in severe cases of flu.
Regarding severity, 7% of severe covid cases were admitted to the intensive care unit, compared to 1.4% of severe flu cases. The registered lethality was 7% for covid and 3.7% for flu. These data correspond to the accumulated total for the season.
With these latest data, the respiratory scenario at the end of September presents a clear difference. Covid is already circulating with high positivity in primary care samples, whilst flu barely registers cases and the syncytial virus does not yet appear in the analysed samples.
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