567 deaths in 24 hours, more than 18,000 deaths since the start of the epidemic. The Spanish Ministry of Health communicated on Tuesday morning the daily report on the Covid-19. The disease has already killed 18,056 people in the most bereaved country in Europe behind Italy.
The number of confirmed cases stands at 172,541 while work has resumed in certain sectors of the economy, which have been shut down for two weeks. But that figure has only risen 1.8% in the past 24 hours, while growing by more than 8% daily in early April.
Spain entered its second month of strict confinement on Tuesday until midnight on April 25. The head of government Pedro Sanchez has already warned that he should probably extend it (as Emmanuel Macron did on Monday evening for France).
Partial resumption of work
Some of the workers have returned to factories and construction sites and millions of masks are distributed to them in stations to prevent public transport from spreading the virus, giving new impetus to the contagion.
Containment is one of the strictest in Europe: only the purchase of food and medicine or a short walk with the dog justifies leaving the house and there is no question of letting the children go out. The government estimates that 67% of Spaniards do not set foot outside, according to the Minister of Transport José Luis Abalos.
According to authorities, the peak of the pandemic has been crossed since the 950 daily deaths recorded on April 2. "The trends are good, in line with what we have observed in recent weeks", welcomed Fernando Simon, director of the Center for Health Emergencies, who participated for the first time physically in the daily press conference after having isolated for contracting the virus.
Newsletter - The essentials of the news
Every morning, the news seen by Le ParisienI'm registering
Your email address is collected by Le Parisien to allow you to receive our news and commercial offers. Find out more
The drop in new cases has relieved hospitals in the most affected regions of the country, such as Madrid and Catalonia, but "intensive care centers remain under pressure," he added.