Spain registers one coronavirus death in last day, 62 in last week

The latest update to the Health Ministry’s daily coronavirus data included 63 fatalities, just one of which corresponds to the last 24 hours. That brought to an end a symbolic run of two days when the country’s regions had not notified a single fatality to the central government. The ministry had warned in previous days that delays in the notifications from the regions meant that the data might not be a true reflection of reality. The total number of official Covid-19-related fatalities in Spain now stands at 27,128.

The majority of the newly reported fatalities were in the Castilla y León region, accounting for the death that took place yesterday, and another 27 victims. As a result, the total for the last seven days – which the Health Ministry considers to be the most representative of the current state of the epidemic – has risen from 34 on Tuesday to 63 today.

Madrid represents the biggest increase in infections, with 112 cases corresponding to Tuesday and another 140 from previous days

The number of new infections detected in the last 24 hours rose by 219, almost double yesterday’s figure of 137, but the cumulative total since the start of the crisis has not risen by the same amount. On Tuesday, the report from the ministry stated there had been 239,932 total infections, whereas today that number is at 240,326. The difference between those two figures is 394. That means that the difference between the 219 positives in the last 24 hours and the difference in the totals between today and yesterday correspond to previous days and have been reported late by the regions. The day-on-day increase in cases is 0.09%.

The data includes an outbreak in Fraga (Huesca), with a rise of 20 cases in Aragón. But as has often been the case, Madrid represents the biggest increase in infections, with 112 cases corresponding to Tuesday and another 140 from previous days, and Catalonia, with 38 in the last day and 39 on previous days.

The accumulated cases of hospitalizations have fallen slightly. The number of hospital admissions has dropped from 243 to 221, to a total of 124,013 since the epidemic began. Madrid, Catalonia and Castilla y León saw the most cases. Admissions in intensive care units (ICUs) fell from 11 to 10, with 13 regions that have had no ICU admission in seven days. In total, 11,415 patients have been admitted to ICUs since the crisis began.

As has been the case in recent weeks, the ministry warned again today that the historical series is still being updated. Fernando Simón, the director of the Health Ministry’s Coordination Center for Health Alerts, explained that at this stage of the epidemic, the trends are the most important factor, and that data on fatalities will in future only be provided on a weekly basis.

English version by Simon Hunter.