Spain reports drops in new COVID-19 deaths, new infections

Spanish health authorities on Saturday confirmed drops in both the daily numbers of new COVID-19 deaths and cases of the coronavirus.

The total number of deaths in Spain rose to 26,478 after 179 more people lost their lives in the 24-hour period until 21:00 hours local time on Friday. This was 50 less than the 229 deaths registered in the previous 24-hour span.

There was also a drop in the number of new coronavirus cases. Fresh figures showed Spain reported 604 new infections, well down from the 1,095 cases reported in the previous 24-hour span, to take the total number of confirmed cases to 223,578.

Of the 604 new infection cases, 202 were in Catalonia, 73 in Madrid, and 91 in the central Spanish region of Castilla-Leon. Spanish health authorities decided on Friday that neither Catalonia nor Madrid or the urban areas of Castilla-Leon was in a position to move to the second phase of the government's four-stage plan to slowly relax the lockdown measures.

Saturday saw 10 of Spain's autonomous regions -- Andalusia, Aragon, Asturias, the Balearic and Canary Islands, Cantabria, Extremadura, Murcia, the Basque Region, and La Rioja -- register fewer than 20 new cases.