LATEST: Spain flattens the curve with coronavirus deaths down for fourth day in a row

Spain saw a fourth consecutive daily drop in the number of coronavirus-related deaths with 637 fatalities recorded over the past 24 hours, official figures showed on Monday. The health ministry said the number, the lowest in 13 days, brought the total number of deaths to 13,055, second only to Italy.

The number of new infections also slowed, rising 3.3 percent to 135,032, down from a rise of 4.8 percent the day before.

The downward trend, and the flattening of the curve seen in the chart above, is apparent when comparing the data from the last four days.

Sunday had seen an increase of 6,023 confirmed cases over Saturday – which had seen an increase of 7,026 confirmed cases over Friday.

In all. 59,662 people across Spain have required hospital treatment for coronavirus and there are currently 6,931 still in intensive care.

But the number of people who have recovered from covid-19 is steadily rising. By Monday 40,437 people have made a full recovery, with 2,382 cases being recorded as cured in the last 24 hours.

Madrid is still the worst hit region where 5,136, from a total 13,055 across the country, have died.

"These figures confirm again this downwards tendency which we have been observing," said Maria Jose Sierra of the health ministry's emergencies coordination unit.

With deaths and new infections falling the Spanish government is studying how to gradually ease the lockdown imposed on the country of 47 million people on March 14. It has been extended until April 25th.

The government plans to ramp up testing to be able to isolate people who are infected but not showing symptoms and is mulling requiring all people to wear face masks in public to curb the spread of the disease.

Four Spanish firms are currently producing 245,000 coronavirus tests per week, Foreign Minister Arancha Gonzalez Laya said during a television interview on Monday.

"During the coming weeks we will multiply by three the capacity of our companies to supply the market" with tests, she added.

As for face masks, the minister said "we will probably all have to learn to use them as a prophylactic, at least until there is a vaccine" against Covid-19.

A friend of ours who is undergoing Chemotherapy went to the hospital yesterday. It was clean and quiet. The staff was in good spirits and she had no problem getting in and receiving her treatment. This is a small city with a population of around 60,000 residents.
My town, which is a seaside tourist area of about 27,000 people, has had less than 10 infections and 0 deaths. We remain on total lockdown and from what I’ve heard they are about to extend it until 26 April. This supposed to be Semana Santa, a holy week where they have large parades day and night. It’s all cancelled. Every hotel, every restaurant, all social activities are cancelled. All you can do is shop for groceries, walk your dog or go to the doctor.
They have an advertising campaign asking people not to cancel their vacations, just to change the date but I don’t see how that is supposed to work. Let’s assume they are successful and get the entire country down to zero cases. Unless it turns out to be a seasonal disease infected people will start showing up and spreading the infection as soon as the lockdown is lifted and people start milling about again. But it’s their country, their plan. We just live here.

I’ve seen claims that 75% of docs in Spain are using hydroxychloroquine for coronavirus. Might it be working and squishing the curve? A popular treatment for influenza is the antiviral drug ‘Tamiflu.’ Maybe we should start referring to HCQ as ‘Trumpiflu.’

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