Europe’s attention has turned to Spain, the second-worst hit country on the continent, as statistics showed a similar – if not more daunting – trajectory as Italy’s.

The Spanish health authorities announced on Tuesday that 514 people had died in the previous 24 hours, the nation’s worst day yet, raising total fatalities to 2,696.

With the daily death toll rising by almost a quarter, the country began to run out of space in mortuaries. An ice rink in a Madrid shopping centre was converted into a morgue to temporarily store some bodies.

Spain took only three days to see its death toll double from the 1,000 total registered on Friday, outpacing China and Italy.

Spain’s grim coronavirus picture: ice rink now a morgue, dead abandoned in retirement homes

Italy’s daily Covid-19 death toll shot back up Tuesday, but more evidence emerged that the coronavirus infection rate is slowing thanks to a painful national lockdown.

Italy’s 743 new deaths broke two days of successive declines that had taken the number down to 601 on Monday.

It set a world record of 793 fatalities on Saturday.

But officially registered new infections rose just eight per cent – the same as Monday and the lowest level since Italy registered its first death on February 21.

The number of Covid-19 cases recorded in Italy has risen to 69,176, compared with 81,171 in mainland China, and its death toll has reached 6,820.

On social media, many users mourned the death of Giuseppe Berardelli, a 72-year-old Catholic priest who died earlier this month at a hospital in Lovere in northern Italy after he refused a ventilator – and insisted that a younger patient use it.

The grim lesson from Italy has led many European countries to adopt drastic lockdown measures to curb social activities and force many businesses to close.

Coronavirus: Xi Jinping calls leaders of France, Spain, Germany and Serbia with offers of support

On Tuesday Britain entered a nationwide lockdown that will last for at least three weeks following an announcement by Prime Minister Boris Johnson Monday evening.

Johnson told the country of 66 million that “the way ahead is hard” and warned that “many lives will sadly be lost”.

“People will only be allowed to leave their home for … very limited purposes,” he said. “The police will have the powers to enforce [the rules], including through fines and dispersing gatherings.”

Under Johnson’s new ban, no one can leave their home except for shopping for basic necessities, medical needs or travelling to and from work if working from home is impossible.

People will also be allowed to exercise outside once a day, but must do so alone or with members of their household.

All shops selling non-essential goods, including clothing and electronics, are to be closed – alongside libraries, playgrounds, outdoor gyms and places of worship.

Social events like weddings, baptisms and other ceremonies are also banned, but not funerals.

British finance minister Rishi Sunak rushed to promise further support measures for the self-employed, while German economic minister Peter Altmaier said an aid package worth up to €750 billion (US$810 billion) would be just “the first step”.

Liu Xiaoming, China's ambassador to Britain, said on Tuesday in a web conference organised by the British Chamber of Commerce in China that China was planning to send one or two medical teams, consisting of doctors and scientists, to Britain.

“They will be here to share knowledge and experience. So there are a lot things going on here between our two countries,” he said.

“At the very critical moment when China was fighting the virus, especially when we had the lockdown in Wuhan, the British side donated two ships of medical supplies which were badly needed, and now the Chinese side stands ready to send our support to the British side.”

Additional reporting by Wendy Wu and Agence France-Presse