The novel coronavirus death toll curve in Spain flattened further on Friday, with the European country reporting 605 new deaths, the lowest daily tally since March 23.
As the total death toll in Spain reached 15,843, the country’s cases rose by 4,576 to a total of 157,022 infections.
The rate of increase has dropped to 4% down from 20% two weeks ago, Maria Jose Sierra, the deputy head of health emergencies, said at a virtual news conference.
“We are seeing the curves are on the decline, even though there are still many cases,” Sierra added.
Meanwhile, the Spanish government the government discussed different strategies to start phasing out one of the world’s strictest lockdowns.
Spaniards have been off the streets since mid-March, but a slowdown of the COVID-19 disease’s spread and its death toll has enabled officials to start discussing a gradual easing.
Sierra noted that despite many people were to return to work, social distancing should be maintained.
“We will give a series of recommendations. The most important is if there is a person who shows the slightest symptom, they should contact the health system and remain in self-isolation,” she said.
For his part, Deputy Prime Minister Pablo Iglesias said that “any step towards de-escalation of such an intense lockdown must be done with extreme caution.”
Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has said the formal lockdown will probably continue into May, but some restrictions may be lifted as early as Monday to breathe life into a paralyzed economy.
Two weeks ago, the government banned all non-essential workers from the streets, effectively shutting down most businesses. From Monday, though, some job categories such as construction workers will be allowed out of their homes again.
Source: Reuters and Al-Jazeera
