Coronavirus latest: Spain overtakes China in infections; Indonesia plans tougher restrictions
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Monday also saw 812 fatalities to 7,300 since the outbreak started in earnest in early March, the Health Ministry said.
Spain’s health emergency chief Fernando Simon, who leads the country’s response to the epidemic and maintains regular contact with Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, has tested positive for the virus, health official Maria Jose Sierra said.
Authorities also stepped up the country’s half-a-month lockdown on Monday, beginning with a new two-week period of “hibernation,” as described by a Spanish Cabinet member in order to alleviate the pressure of the illness in the country’s health system.
Only workers in hospitals, pharmacies, the food supply chain and other essential industries are required to work until the end of Easter, in mid-April, while the rest have been asked to scale back operations to weekend-level.
At least six of Spain’s 17 regions are at their limit of ICU beds and three more were close to it, authorities said, while frantic construction of field hospitals continues.