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Spanish coronavirus cases surpass China but death rate slows
- An overnight death toll of 812 people brought total fatalities in Spain to 7,340, while the number of infections reached 85,195
- The country’s hospitals struggle to cope with the surge in patients, with hotels being used as temporary clinics
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Spain on Monday confirmed another 812 deaths in 24 hours from the coronavirus, a slight decline on the previous day’s toll, bringing the nation’s total number fatalities to 7,340.
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The country, which has the world’s second most deadly outbreak after Italy, recorded 838 deaths from the pandemic on Sunday, its third straight daily record for coronavirus deaths.
The percentage increase in the number of deaths on Monday over the previous day was 12.4 per cent, less than half the increase of 27 per cent recorded on Wednesday.
The growth in the number of new confirmed cases also slowed, posting a one-day rise of 8.0 per cent to 85,195, according to the health ministry, compared to a 20-per cent rise on Wednesday.
However, Spain has now joined the United States and Italy in having more cases than China, where the virus first appeared in December and which had confirmed 81,439 cases as of Sunday evening.
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Spain’s health care system is struggling to cope with the surge of seriously ill patients, with hotels and conference centres being used as temporary clinics and Madrid’s largest ice rink turned into a provisional morgue.
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