COVID-19: Spain sees deadliest weekend in months

By Alyssa McMurtry

OVIEDO, Spain (AA) - Another 512 people have died from COVID-19 in Spain and more than 52,000 others have been infected, the country’s Health Ministry confirmed on Monday.

Spain does not report coronavirus data at the weekends, so this jump includes three days’ worth of data.

New infections were slightly down this weekend compared to the previous one when 55,000 people were infected.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez declared a state of emergency 15 days ago, which established a curfew across most of the country and gave regional governments the power to limit mobility and shut down businesses.

Health officials said it would take around two weeks to see the effects.

And although infections appear to be on a slow decline, hospitalizations and deaths are climbing significantly.

This was the highest number of deaths to arise from a weekend since the spring. It is up 25% from last weekend and nearly double that of last weekend of October, with the total number of deaths now at 39,345.

Between Friday and Monday, Spanish hospitals saw the number of active COVID-19 patients increased by nearly 800. At the moment, 21,029 people are fighting the virus in Spanish hospitals using 17% of all beds and 32% of all available intensive care units.

To reduce the pressure on hospitals, which report even more patients now than during the spring in places like Asturias, Murcia and Andalusia, hard-hit regions are moving towards stricter measures.

From Tuesday, 8.4 million people who live in Andalusia will not be allowed to leave their towns or cities for unjustified reasons. Non-essential shops and all hospitality businesses will also have to close by 6 p.m. local time.

Granada, which is suffering from the region’s worst outbreak, will close all non-essential public-facing businesses for now.