Spain records 440 deaths as coronavirus death toll crosses 22,000
Coronavirus in China
The death toll due to coronavirus in Spain crossed 22,000 as 440 people died in the past 24 hours which was an increase for the third consecutive day.
There are 208,389 infected cases in the country which is the second-highest in the world after the United States which has 842, 624 cases of the virus, according to Johns Hopkins coronavirus resource centre's live tracker.
There are now 22,157 fatalities due to the virus in Spain. On Wednesday 435 people had died due to the virus.
Spain along with Italy, France and Germany have been been the hardest hit COVID-19 countries in Europe. The continued crisis comes even as the WHO warned on Wednesday that "we have a long way to go. This virus will be with us for a long time."
The WHO warned that lockdown measures should remain until a viable vaccine is found to combat the virus.
Spanish government said it did not expect to lift the lockdown until mid-May which had come into effect on March 14. The lockdown has already been extended twice by the government.
"We must be incredibly careful in this phase," Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said. However, the government allowed children under-14 to go for a walk with one of their parents to go out to buy food, medicine or to the bank.
"The second half of May offers the prospect of a scaling-back of the lockdown, of phase two of the fight when the restrictions will be modified," Sanchez said in Parliament while adding "the scaling-back period will be slow and gradual, precisely because it has to be safe."