Spain coronavirus infections top 11,000, with 491 deaths

Fourth hardest hit country logs another 2,000 cases in 24-hour period, with Madrid in the worst shape

By AFP 17 March 2020, 5:09 pm

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A Spanish police officer checks the identity papers of a driver at a checkpoint near tolls at the La Jonquera crossing between France and Spain on March 17, 2020. (Pau Barrena / AFP)

MADRID, Spain — Spain on Tuesday confirmed nearly 2,000 new cases of COVID-19, sending the total spiraling past 11,000, with 491 deaths, the health ministry said.

Spain is the fourth worst-hit country in the world after China, Italy and Iran, with numbers rising rapidly despite an unprecedented national lockdown, with the government ordering its 46 million population to stay home.

Over the past 24 hours, the number of people infected rose by 1,987, hiking the overall total to 11,178, the ministry’s emergencies coordinator Fernando Simon said.

At the same time, the number of people who had recovered from the virus stood at 1,098, he said. But an update released by the ministry shortly afterwards revised down the figure to 1,028, giving a recovery rate of just over 9 percent.

Madrid is by far the worst-hit area, accounting for 4,871 cases, or 43 percent of the total infections in Spain.