Spain's death toll from the coronavirus has surpassed the official figure from China, becoming the second highest in the world.
A health worker dressed in protective gear speaks to a motorist at a drive-through testing centre at a hospital in San Sebastian. Spain now has more than 47,000 confirmed cases of Covid-19. Photo: AFP
The number of deaths has risen by 738 in just 24 hours to a total of 3434 - a record spike for Spain.
By comparison, China has officially reported 3285 deaths, while Italy - the worst affected country - has 6820.
Spain's prime minister will later ask MPs to extend his country's state of emergency for another two weeks.
Lawmakers are expected to agree to Pedro Sánchez's request for lockdown measures to stay in place until 11 April. Under the rules, people are banned from leaving home except for buying essential supplies and medicines, or for work.
Meanwhile, Spain's Deputy Prime Minister Carmen Calvo has tested positive for the virus, the government says. She was admitted to hospital on Sunday with respiratory symptoms.
Globally there are nearly 440,000 cases of the virus, with deaths approaching 20,000 and more than 100,000 people having recovered, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
On Wednesday the UN said the virus was "threatening the whole of humanity" as it launched a $US2bn appeal for the world's poorest people.
"Global action and solidarity are crucial. Individual country responses are not going to be enough," UN Secretary-General António Guterres said.
Madrid ice rink used as temporary mortuary
Figures released by the Spain's health ministry showed the the country now has 47,610 confirmed cases.
Catalonia accounts for close to 10,000 of those, while the Basque Country and Andalusia both have more than 3000 cases. But the worst-affected region is the area around the capital Madrid, which has recorded 14,597 cases.
Madrid's municipal funeral home announced on Tuesday it had stopped collecting victims of Covid-19 - the disease caused by the coronavirus - while the city's major ice rink will be used as a temporary mortuary.
On Monday, soldiers in Spain brought in to tackle the outbreak found retirement home residents abandoned and even dead in their beds. The defence ministry said that staff at some care homes had left after the coronavirus was detected.
On Wednesday local media reported that more than 20 residents who were confirmed to have the virus or had symptoms of it had died at the Fundación Santísima Virgen y San Celedonio care home in Madrid's Chamartín district. Some 50 members of staff were in isolation.
Situation across Europe
There have been more than 435,000 confirmed cases worldwide. Europe is now the centre of the global outbreak.
Leaders of nine EU countries have called for the 27-member bloc to raise funds through a "common debt instrument" to tackle the pandemic.
"In particular, we need to work on a common debt instrument... to raise funds on the market on the same basis and to the benefits of all member states," said the letter, which was signed by the leaders of Spain, France, Italy, Greece, Ireland, Belgium, Luxembourg, Slovenia and Portugal.
In other developments:
- Italy has increased punishments for breaking virus control measures, including fines of thousands of euros and five-year prison terms for anyone who tests positive and breaks their quarantine. Nearly 70,000 people have tested positive for the illness there.
- On Tuesday, France became the fifth country to record more than 1,000 coronavirus deaths. Jerome Salomon, the country's top health official, has warned that the number could be even higher, as the 1,100 confirmed total only counts people who died in hospitals. Scientific advisers have called for the lockdown there to be extended from 15 days to six weeks - something health officials have not ruled out.
- Russia's President Vladimir Putin has postponed a vote on constitutional change that would allow him to stay in power, because of coronavirus concerns. The public vote had been due to be held on 22 April. The official number of people infected in Russia rose to 658 on Wednesday - the largest one-day increase in cases so far.
- In the UK, heir to the throne Prince Charles has tested positive after displaying "mild" symptoms.
- Air pollution rates in major European cities have fallen amid the lockdowns in force. Levels of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) in the Italian city of Milan were down 21 percent compared with the same week in 2019, the European Environment Agency says. Madrid's NO2 levels were down 41 percent and Lisbon's rates were down 51 percent.
- BBC
