Spain’s daily COVID-19 death toll drops to 410

By Alyssa McMurtry

OVIEDO, Spain (AA) - Spain registered 410 more COVID-19 deaths on Sunday, according to the Ministry of Health, bringing the country’s official death toll to 20,453.

This is the lowest number of daily deaths since March 22.

In total, 195,944 people in Spain have tested positive for the virus -- up by 4,218 from yesterday. Of the confirmed cases, 77,357 people have recovered.

On Saturday night, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez announced in an address to the nation his plans to extend the lockdown until May 9. From there, he said there would be a “cautious and progressive” relaxation of quarantine measures.

“But if we detect even the smallest threat, we will stop and, if necessary, reinforce the confinement measures,” he said.

Sanchez also announced that from April 27 children will be allowed to go outside under controlled circumstances.

Spanish children have had virtually no excuses to go outdoors since Spain enforced one of the world’s strictest lockdowns on March 14.

Outdoor exercise for adults appears set to remain forbidden until May 9.

Sanchez also suggested that the eventual de-escalation of measures will be “asymmetrical.”

“If we see that the pandemic is controlled in one territory, we can move faster with de-escalation there,” he said.

Currently, the entire country is under the same lockdown rules, even places like El Hierro in the Canary Island archipelago, which has no active coronavirus cases.

Around 100,000 people in Europe have lost their lives to COVID-19 so far, according to statistics from Johns Hopkins University.