Spain sees rises in new coronavirus cases and deaths

Rises were seen in both Spain’s new COVID-19 cases and deaths over the past 24 hours, according to the daily data published by the Spanish Ministry for Health, Consumer Affairs and Social Services on Tuesday.

The new cases of infection increased by 5,478 between Monday and Tuesday to 140,510 in total, more than the 4,273 new cases in the previous 24 hours. Tuesday’s percentage rise of 4.05 percent is also higher than Monday’s increase of 3.2 percent, although below the 4.82 percent on Sunday.

Meanwhile, the deaths from the virus rose by 743 to 13,798. The new daily death number is higher than 637 deaths reported on Monday and 674 deaths on Sunday.

The increase ends a four-day consecutive decline in the new daily deaths in Spain, although Tuesday’s increase was attributed to delays in collating the data over the weekend.

“This slight increase is due to the adjustment of the data what was produced over the weekend. We are still seeing a downward trend,” explained Dr. Maria Jose Sierra from the Center for the Coordination for Health Emergencies at the Spanish Ministry for Health at the daily press conference of the Technical Committee for the coronavirus emergency.

A total of 7,069 patients have needed intensive care in Spain, 138 more than Monday.

Sierra said this confirmed the indications that the Health Ministry was receiving, which showed “the pressure is slowly being eased in hospitals and intensive care units.”