Spain daily toll slightly up with 325 new virus deaths

Another 325 people died of COVID-19 in Spain in a slight increase in the daily figure, pushing the overall toll past 24,000, the government said Wednesday.

Despite the rise from Tuesday's figure of 301, it was the sixth consecutive day that the number has been below 400 in Spain, which has now lost 24,275 lives as a result of the coronavirus.

The number of people who have recovered from the virus rose by 6,399 over the past 24 hours in what was a record daily high since the start of the epidemic, raising the overall number to 108,947.

Spain has suffered the third-highest death rate in the world after the United States and Italy, but experts believe the epidemic peaked on April 2 when 950 people died over 24 hours.

Since then, the toll has been gradually dropping, and at the weekend, the government moved to ease one of the world's tightest lockdowns, allowing children out for an hour a day for the first time in six weeks.

Further easing measures are expected on May 2 when the rest of the population will be allowed to go for a walk or exercise alone, with the government unveiling a four-phase plan to transition out of lockdown by the end of June.

The latest figures show Spain has so far counted 212,917 cases of COVID-19, the second-highest figure in the world, although the health ministry only registers cases confirmed by testing.

Until late last week, the government was also including the numbers of those shown to have developed antibodies.

© 2020 AFP