Coronavirus: Spain death toll reaches 20,000
More than 191,700 people have tested positive, government says
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Spain’s death toll from Covid-19 has surpassed 20,000, the health ministry has said.
The number of people to have died after contracting the coronavirus rose by 565 on Saturday to a total of 20,043.
This marked a smaller daily increase than on Friday, when the government said 585 people had died.
According to Saturday’s figures, 191,726 people have tested positive for the coronavirus in the country to date, up from 188,068 on Friday.
Spain has been one of the countries worst hit by the pandemic, with the third-highest death toll in the world, according to a global count by Reuters.
In the United States, 37,175 people who tested positive have died to date, while 22,745 coronavirus patients have died in Italy as of Saturday.
Spain slightly eased its lockdown measures earlier this week to let people in construction and manufacturing go back to work.
Before that, only essential workers – such as health professionals and the police – were allowed to travel to work, as authorities worked to limit the spread of the virus.
Other lockdown measures remain in place, with people ordered to stay inside unless it is deemed necessary – for example, to get groceries, medicine, or to go to work.
The government announced on Friday that it was planning on paying a basic monthly income to about a million of the country’s poorest households in an effort to help people deal with the financial blow of the coronavirus outbreak.
Spain shed nearly 900,000 jobs during the first two weeks of the lockdown, which was imposed on 14 March to limit the spread of Covid-19, pushing the number of those who are officially unemployed back up to where it had been three years ago.
Additional reporting by Reuters
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments