Spain’s coronavirus death
toll overtook that of China on Wednesday, rising to 3,434 after 738
people died over the past 24 hours, the government
said.
Across the world, only Italy now has a higher death toll than
that of Spain. In China, where the virus emerged late last year,
3,281 people have died.
The spiraling number of deaths came as Spain entered the 11th
day of an unprecedented lock-down to try and rein in the COVID-19
epidemic that has now infected 47,610 people, the health ministry
said.
As the authorities stepped up testing, the number of cases
showed a 20 percent increase on the figures for Tuesday, while the
death toll showed a 27 percent rise over the same period.
Despite the national lockdown imposed on March 14, which
is to be extended until April 11, both deaths and infections have
continued to mount, with officials warning this week would be
particularly bad.
“We are approaching the peak,” the ministry’s emergencies
coordinator Fernando Simon said in announcing the figures.
Health authorities are hoping it will soon become clear whether
the lock-down is having the desired effect.
The Madrid region has suffered the brunt of the epidemic with
14,597 infections — just under a third of the total — and 1,825
deaths, or 53 percent of the national figure.
With hospitals on the brink of collapse from the surge in
patients, troops have set up a massive field hospital in Madrid’s
vast IFEMA exhibition center which currently has 1,500 beds but
which could be expanded to take in up to 5,500 people — making it
the largest hospital in Spain.
And with the city’s funeral services overwhelmed,
officials have commandeered the Palacio de Hielo ice skating rink
to serve as a temporary morgue.
The post
Coronavirus Death Toll in Spain Hits 3,434, Surpassing
China’s appeared first on Harbingers Daily.
