Spain sees rise in new COVID-19 cases, fall in deaths

Spain saw a rise in new COVID-19 cases recorded in a 24-hour period and a slight fall in new deaths, according to the data collected by the Ministry for Health, Consumer Affairs and Social Welfare by 21:00 hours on Tuesday and made public on Wednesday.

There were 523 new fatalities, down from the 567 reported on Tuesday and 517 on Monday, bringing the tally to 18,579.

There was, however, a rise in new cases with 4,978 new ones reported, compared to 3,045 on Tuesday and 3,477 on Monday, bringing the total to 177,633.

It is possible that Wednesday's increase in new cases is related to delays in collecting data from all of Spain's regions over the Easter weekend, given that Monday was a holiday in several parts of the country, such as Catalonia and the Basque Region, while the fact the country is also carrying out more tests could be another reason.

The Community of Madrid continues to be Spain's worst affected region, with 6,727 deaths from 49,526 cases.

Enrique Ruiz Escudero, a health spokesman for the Madrid region, said on Tuesday that the official figures failed to include almost 3,000 people who have died in residential care homes for the elderly with symptoms of the virus and another 600 who died in their own homes.

Catalonia has seen 3,756 deaths from 36,505 cases, while the central region of Castilla-La Mancha has 1,755 confirmed deaths from 14,680 cases.

The number of people who have now recovered from COVID-19 grew from 67,504 to 70,853, an increase of 3,349 from Tuesday.

Speaking in the Spanish Congress, the lower chamber of Parliament, on Wednesday morning, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez defended his government's management of the crisis.

"We are taking tough decisions that are saving lives. They are measures that are being carried out throughout Spain and they are supported by science. We want to win this battle with the unity of all of the parties in this chamber," he said, asking once again for a national pact to combat the pandemic.

"I am certain that as a result of the lockdown, Spanish people will get back to normality -- a new normality. I hope it is accompanied by a new way of carrying out politics, which considers the general good over the good of the party. I hope we can find that agreement that is so important for our country," said Sanchez.

(XINHUA)