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.”

Madrid and the Catalan region continue to be the two worst affected parts of Spain, with Madrid suffering 5,371 deaths from 40,469 cases and the Catalan region 2,908 deaths from 28,323 cases.

Meanwhile, the number of the recovered has increased to 43,208 from 40,437.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez will hold a cabinet meeting later on Tuesday in which he is expected to gain approval for his request to extend the State of Alarm in Spain and the corresponding lockdown until midnight on April 25.

Once Sanchez’s proposal is approved by his cabinet, it will be presented before the lower chamber of the Spanish Parliament on Thursday, where it is expected to pass after the opposition People’s Party (PP) and Ciudadanos (Citizens’) party has expressed their support.
Sanchez celebrated World Health Day with a tweet in which he wrote a message in support of Spain’s public health system.

“Health workers are the basis of a health system, which these days is more vital than ever. The emergency we are living should make us all realize the need to protect and strengthen it,” wrote the prime minister.

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