Cold wave and excess rain in the dry month of the year in the Valley - Cali - Colombia

To first dry season of 2022 he crossed the chill in the Pacific Ocean that impacts the region, with an increase in rainfall compared to its historical average, so events and possible effects are not ruled out.

January It began like this with excess rain in the department, probably caused by temperature anomalies that occur in the Pacific. says the report of the Regional Autonomous Corporation of Valle del Cauca (CVC).

February has also had its rains.

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The greatest rainfall surpluses were recorded in the north of the department of Cauca, which is the area of ​​influence in the south of the valley, followed by the north of Valle del Cauca. In total, the rainfall surplus reached 47 percent.

The CVC report says that in the south of the department it rained 106 percent of its average. The surplus marked 6 percent.

At vallecaucano center it rained 138 percent of its average, with a surplus of 38 percent.

At North it rained 182 percent of its average, with a surplus of 82 percent.

In the Pacific slope del Valle rained 122 percent of its average, this is a surplus of 22 percent.

While in the department of Cauca, in the area of ​​influence, the rains reached 219 percent. The surplus touched 119 percent.

The surplus rains not only in January, but also in the previous months, have saturated the soils of most of the basins located in the department, making them vulnerable to landslides and landslides, to which are added the high flows in its currents and some effects due to overflows in specific places.

The CVC urged the competent authorities and the general public to continue with the preventive measures that allow them to face, in the best way, the threats derived from the rains and the eventual affectation by forest fires in some sectors of the region.

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Italy, Spain, England and Wales, countries with the most excess deaths 2020

Italy, Spain, England and Wales were the countries with the highest excess mortality between March and May 2020, during the first wave of the covid-19 pandemic, while Switzerland and Greece were the countries with the highest excess deaths in the last months of the year

The ICU of a hospital in Rome in a file photo. EFE/EPA/GIUSEPPE LAMI

This is the main conclusion of an international study that has analyzed the impact of the pandemic on the excess mortality recorded during 2020 in England, Greece, Italy, Switzerland and Spain.

The study, led by the School of Public Health at Imperial College London, and carried out by researchers from the Carlos III Health Institute (ISCIII), in collaboration with the University of Castilla-La Mancha, has been published this week in the journal «Nature Communications».

Using data from the 2015–2019 period and statistical projection models, the researchers have tried to quantify the deaths that would have occurred in these five countries if the pandemic had not happened.

The authors recall that these estimates include deaths from all causes, not just from covid-19, and that excess deaths, especially during the first wave, account for a significant part of deaths from coronavirus, but also from other related causes. with the pandemic (such as people who died of covid but were not officially diagnosed).

The study concludes that Italy, Spain, England and Wales were the countries with the highest excess deaths in the first wave, and Switzerland the one with the highest excess mortality in the last months of the year.

In Spain, the estimates for excess deaths in the pandemic have been analyzed at the ISCIII National Epidemiology Center through the Daily Mortality Monitoring System (MoMo).

According to the study, Madrid, Castilla-La Mancha and Castilla y León, and Lombardy, in Italy, were the regions with the highest excess mortality during the first year of the pandemic, around 30 percent more than expected.

During the first half of the year, northern Italy and central Spain were the most affected areas.

For their part, in England, Greece and Switzerland, the regions with the highest excess mortality were the outskirts of London and the West Midlands (England), Eastern, Western and Central Macedonia (Greece) and Ticino (Switzerland), with an excess of mortality close to 20 percent in 2020.

By sex, when comparing the number of deaths registered between 2015 and 2019 with those of 2020, the results of the investigations show that in England 40,631 men and 27,739 women died more than expected, followed by Italy, with 59,327 men and 52,206 women, from Spain, with 35,868 men and 33,208 women, from Greece, with 5,380 men and 5,909 women, and from Switzerland, with 5,788 men and 4,526 women.

Analyzed by temporal patterns, the study points out that England and Spain registered more deaths than expected in the first wave (March-May 2020), while Switzerland and Greece suffered more from excess deaths between November and December of that year.

Finally, the authors point out that commuting influenced community transmission during the early stages of the pandemic, noting that it was important to limit it in the main regions of contagion and transmission to minimize its spread to other places and countries.

Photo of Inmaculada León and Amparo Larrauri courtesy of the ISCIII National Epidemiology Center. EFE