Spain reports surge in new COVID-19 cases

Spain's Ministry of Health on Friday reported a marked increase in new COVID-19 cases, affecting especially the northeastern autonomous communities of Catalonia and Aragon.

In the last 24 hours, 628 new cases have been confirmed, of which 252 in Aragon and 121 in Catalonia.

These numbers have led the Catalan regional government to ask residents in the metropolitan area of Barcelona to remain at home and to avoid meetings of more than 10 people in an attempt to control the spread of the virus. Movement in and out of the Segria region around the city of Lleida has already been restricted for almost two weeks.

As a result of the surge in infections in Aragon, the areas of Zaragoza and Huesca had to revert back from the "new normality" to Phase 2 of the Spanish government's 4-phase plan to scale down confinement measures, limiting the number of people allowed to meet or stay inside bars and restaurants.

The regional authority in Aragon also confirmed on Thursday that around 92,000 mink are to be culled after large numbers of them were found to be infected with the coronavirus.

Spain is not the only country to cull mink en masse. The authorities in the Netherlands found the coronavirus in 20 mink farms earlier this month.

According to the Health Ministry, as of Friday, 28,420 people had lost their lives to COVID-19 in Spain. The number of those infected reached 260,255, and 150,376 people have recovered.