Spain's number of COVID-19 cases has increased by 6,600 over the past 24 hours and now nears 40,000, the Health Ministry said on Tuesday
MADRID (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 24th March, 2020) Spain's number of COVID-19 cases has increased by 6,600 over the past 24 hours and now nears 40,000, the Health Ministry said on Tuesday.
The Spanish Health Ministry has updated the case count to 39,673, adding that the death toll has reached 2,696 after increasing by 514 over the past 24 hours.
The condition of 2,600 people is assessed as critical. As many as 3,800 patients have recovered.
About 5,400 health care workers became infected with the COVID-19 in Spain, Fernando Simon, the director of the Health Ministry's coordination center for health alerts, said.
"It is obvious that we are concerned about the situation in the health care system. It is complicated; 5,400 representatives of the medical staff have been affected. It is obvious that the distribution is not the same in different hospitals across Spain. Some are affected more than others, and the pressure on the system is different across the country," Simon said during an online press conference.
As of Monday, the number of coronavirus cases among the country's medical staff was under 4,000.
Spain ranks second in Europe after Italy in the number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 infection. The Spanish authorities suggest that the number of active cases and deaths from the coronavirus-related complications will peak this week, after which, if strict quarantine measures work, the situation will stabilize and then begin to improve. The quarantine will be extended in Spain until April 11.
