Raissa's Blog - Best of Sports, Culture, and Entertainment

For the second time in close to three months, there has been no coronavirus death recorded in Spain in 24 hours. On Monday, Spain's health officials also reported no death from the virus. So far, Spain has recorded a total of 27,127 deaths from the virus, and a total of 240,000 cases. In a news conference, Emergency health response chief Fernando Simon described the new milestone as being "very, very encouraging". Only 71 new coronavirus cases were reported on Tuesday. "We are in a very good place in the evolution of the pandemic," he said."The statistics are following a trend. They are going the right direction."

On Saturday, May 16, health officials in Brazil reported 14,919 new cases, taking their total number of cases to 233,142. Brazil now has the fourth-highest number of coronavirus cases in the world (surpassing Italy and Spain), after the US, Russia and the UK. Brazil also has the fifth-highest coronavirus death toll in the world, with 816 new deaths over the last 24 hours. Its total death toll from the virus stands at 15,633. In Spain, the death toll from the virus was its lowest in more than two months - 87 deaths (the first time the figure dropped below 100). There have been a total of 231,350 cases of coronavirus in Spain and 27,650 deaths. Today, Italy recorded its lowest daily death toll since a lockdown was declared in the country - 145 deaths. In Italy, there have been a total of 224,760 coronavirus cases and 31,908 deaths.

On Tuesday, April 21, Spain saw a slight increase in its daily coronavirus death toll. The government reported 430 deaths in 24 hours, an increase from Monday's 399 deaths. This is still quite an improvement from April 2nd's peak of 950 deaths. Monday's death toll was the lowest figure in a month. Spain has the third-highest coronavirus fatality rate after the United States and Italy. The number of confirmed cases in the country has grown to 204,178, the second-highest number of cases in the world, after the US which has more than 790,000 cases. 31,788 of the confirmed cases are medical staff. Recoveries are also growing, with 82,518 recoveries as of Tuesday. A lockdown was enforced in Spain on March 14 and will be extended until May 9th. However, the lockdown conditions will be eased on April 27, allowing kids to spend some time outdoors.

On Monday, April 20, Spain registered 4,266 new coronavirus cases, increasing its total number of coronavirus cases from 195,944 to 200,210 - the nation has passed another grim coronavirus milestone. Spain is the second country to have more than 200,000 coronavirus cases, after the US which has 750,000+.  399 coronavirus deaths were registered in Spain today, bringing the death tally from 20,453 to 20,852. Today is the first time since March 22 that Spain's daily coronavirus death toll has fallen below 400. Spain had its peak in deaths on April3 when 932 deaths were reported.

On Friday, April 17, Spain registered its highest daily rise in coronavirus cases in more than a week - 5,252 cases (a 2.8% increase). This takes the total number of confirmed cases to 188,068. 74,797 of the confirmed cases have recovered. There were 585 coronavirus-related deaths in the last 24 hours. This takes the total number of confirmed fatalities in the country to 19,478. Spain's Health Minister revealed that 930,230 coronavirus tests have been carried out in the country since the beginning of the crisis. Health Minister Salvador Illa at a press conference on Friday said: "It is Friday of the fifth week of drastic measures. The average increase in infections from Friday to Friday was 25.1% in the first week, 18.2% in the second, 9.1% in the third, 4.2% in the fourth and this week 2.6% despite the increase in the number of tests. [...] This leads us to conclude that the measures adopted by the government are working."

On Thursday, April 16, Spain reported the highest number of daily new coronavirus cases in seven days. 5,183 new infections were recorded in 24 hours, taking the total tally to 182,816. This is an increase from Wednesday's 5,092 new cases. 551 more coronavirus deaths were recorded, bringing the total number of deaths to 19,130. Spain has the second-highest number of cases behind the US, and the second-highest death toll in Europe behind Italy. Recoveries are also increasing as 3,944 people were declared coronavirus-free today, an increase from Wednesday's 3,349. A total of 74,797 people have recovered so far. In an interview with Cadena Ser radio today, Social Security Minister Jose Luis Escriva said easing of lockdown restrictions will happen " in phases, by sectors and maybe even geographies".

On Saturday, April 11, Spain's Health Ministry reported 510 fatalities from the coronavirus crisis - a drop in the daily death toll for a third consecutive day. 4,830 new cases were reported. The total number of cases now stand at 161,852. Spain has the third-highest number of fatalities from the virus after the United States and Italy. Given the slowdown in the rate of new infections and coronavirus deaths, the government will start unwinding lockdown measures in a gradual process. From Monday, workers in the construction and manufacturing sectors will be allowed to return to work, so thousands will be back at work.  At a joint press conference with Health Minister Salvador Illa, Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska said: "We are still in the confinement phase... We haven’t begun any relaxation (of the restrictions)." The guidelines issued by the prime minister's office require that companies returning to work provide appropriate protective equipment...

On Thursday, April 9, Spain's Health Ministry reported 683 new deaths, an increase smaller than Wednesday's 757. The total number of deaths in Spain has now risen to 15,238. There were 5,756 new coronavirus cases recorded, pushing the total number of cases above 150,000 (152,446). The number of new infections has been on the rise for three consecutive days. There were 5,478 new infections yesterday. 52,165 people have recovered from Covid-19 in Spain. Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez defended his proposed extension of the lockdown in the country to at least April 26, at congress. He also called for solidarity in the EU as he said: "The EU is in danger if there is no solidarity. The EU is in danger if there is no solidarity. This scenario requires strength. Cuts and austerity are not the way forward."

On Wednesday, April 8, Spain's coronavirus daily death toll increased for a second successive day. 757 deaths were recorded, up from Tuesday's 743. However, the daily increase as a percentage of the total death toll was 5.5 percent, down from Tuesday's 5.7 percent. The total number of coronavirus deaths in the country now stands at 14,555, making Spain Europe's second-hardest-hit country after Italy.  The highest number of daily deaths was registered last Thursday - 950, then the daily death toll fell for four days straight. The number of new infections increased by 4.4% (6,180 new cases) to 146,690. So far, 48,021 people have made a full recovery from Covid-19 in Spain.

On Tuesday, April 7, Spain's coronavirus daily death toll rose, after falling for 4 straight days. 743 deaths were recorded, taking Spain's total tally of deaths to 13,798. 5,478 new cases were recorded - a 4.1% rise - taking the total number of confirmed infections to 140,510. On Monday, the number of new cases only rose by 3.3%.  Mari Angels Rodriguez, a nurse at the Hospital Josep Trueta hospital in Girona in northeastern Spain told AFP the workload in the ICUs had decreased. "The collapse in the first few days was brutal, everyone was coming to emergency services, all the usual causes as well as all the possible cases of COVID-19." "What wears me out the most is seeing young and middle aged people, without chronic conditions, who arrive in moderate shape and quickly end up in the intensive care unit (ICU)." "The other day a 17-year-old girl was admitted to hospital and the next day she was in the ICU. It is full of young people. Psycho...

Spain has continued to see a downward trend in its daily new coronavirus cases and deaths. On Monday, April 6, 4,273 new coronavirus cases and 637 new deaths were recorded. This is the fourth consecutive day of decline in new deaths and cases. Spain reached its peak on April 2 with 950 deaths, and has seen a continuous decline in new deaths since then. As of today, the total death toll from the virus in Spain stands at 13,055, among 135,032 confirmed cases.  Out of 60,000 hospitalized people, 40,000 have recovered from Covid-19 and have been discharged from hospital.  A total of 6,931 patients have passed through one of Spain’s intensive care units (ICUs) since the beginning of the coronavirus crisis.  The global death toll from COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the novel coronavirus has surpassed 70,000, and the number of confirmed infections has risen above 1.28 million.

On Sunday, April 5, Spain recorded a further sharp decline in the number of coronavirus deaths recorded. From Saturday's 809, the daily death toll fell to 674. The number of new coronavirus cases also declined, with 6,023 people testing positive, a drop from Saturday's 7,026 new cases, and Friday's 7,472 new cases. The total number of coronavirus cases in Spain now stand at 130,759, while its death toll has surpassed 12,000. On Saturday, Spain's Prime Minister, Pedro Sanchez announced an extension to the current three-week lockdown - to April 25. He also warned that despite the country finally being "in a position to bend the curve", they weren't yet out of the woods, as he added: " If the climb has been hard, let's not fool ourselves, the descent will not be smoother. "We are facing the great crisis of our lives." "The victory that puts an end to it will only come with a vaccine that unfortunately will take a few months,...

809 people have died from the coronavirus in the last 24 hours in Spain - a significant drop from Friday's 932 deaths. This is lowest daily death toll recorded in Spain in seven days.  This represents a 7% increase in total deaths, about a third of the near 20% increase registered a week ago. So far, 11,744 people have died from the virus in Spain.  The lowest day-on-day increase of coronavirus cases was also recorded in the country - 5.9% increase - with 7,027 new cases. This takes the total tally of cases to 124,736. There has been a 1.8% increase the number of patients in intensive care. There are currently 6,532 coronavirus patients in ICU units in Spain. 34,219 patients have recovered from Covid-19 and have been discharged from hospital.  Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sanchez, will ask parliament to extend lockdown measures in Spain by 15 more days until 26 April to keep the spread of the virus in check.

Spain with the second-highest coronavirus death toll in the world, has further extended this grim record. The coronavirus pandemic has claimed 932 more lives in the country over the past 24 hours, taking its total number of deaths to 10,935. This is a slight decrease from Thursday's 950. More than half of these deaths have come in the past seven days. 7,472 new coronavirus cases were recorded - a 6.8% increase. The total number of coronavirus cases in the country now stand at 117,710. 3,500 people have recovered from coronavirus in Spain since yesterday. So far, 30,513 people have recovered.

The latest figures from Spain's Health Ministry, published on April 2 show that Spain's coronavirus deaths have risen above 10,000. 950 deaths were registered in the last 24 hours, taking the total tally of deaths from the virus to 10,003. This is the highest daily coronavirus death toll recorded in the country, and in any country in the world. Spain is Europe's worst affected country after Italy. There are now 110,238 confirmed coronavirus infections in Spain. The good news is Spain's coronavirus infection rate has dropped from a daily average of 20% until March 25 to less than 12% after that date. The Spanish government has however acknowledged that the drop in infection rate may not paint a complete picture as the real number of infections could be higher but be undetected due to limited testing. The number of recoveries are also increasing. In sum, 26,743 people have recovered so far, up from yesterday's 22,647.

On Wednesday, April 1, Spain's Health Ministry revealed that 864 people had died in the last 24 hours. So far, 9,053 people have died from the virus in Spain. There were 7,719 more cases registered, taking the total number of cases in the country to 102,136. There has been about 22,600 recoveries so far. Close to 6,000 of those patients have required intensive care treatment. The day on day percentage increase in deaths related to total cases is now at 10.5% and has been falling since March 25, when the rise was 27%.  Speaking at the daily government press conference on the coronavirus crisis, María José Sierra from the Health Ministry’s Coordination Center for Health Alerts, said that Spain “was still in the stabilization phase of the pandemic. While this data is positive, our main objective is the patients in the intensive care units." She added that the figures of patients in ICUs "reflects what happened two to three weeks ago, and we are seeing...

Tuesday, March 31 has been Spain's deadliest day as far as the coronavirus crisis is concerned. A record 849 people died today, taking the grim tally of fatalities to 8,189. There was also a significant increase in cases (11% increase) - 9,222 new cases, raising to total number of cases to 94,417.  Maria Jose Sierra, from the Health Ministry's emergencies coordination unit said: "It's true that today we have a slight increase in the number of cases." She however said the downward trend "is continuing", which is true, given that this time last week, the rate of new infections stood at around 20%. Madrid remains the worst-hit area in Spain, and counts 3,609 deaths and 27,509 cases.

On Monday, March 30, Spain overtook China for the number of confirmed coronavirus cases as its total number of cases rose to 85,195. Italy and the US also have more than 85,000 cases. There was however a slight decrease in the number of deaths today with 812 reported deaths; there were 838 deaths on Sunday. Spain's total number of fatalities now stand at 7,340. A minute of silence for coronavirus victims was held in a central Madrid square at midday. More than 46,000 people have been hospitalized for Covid-19 in Spain, and 16,780 have been discharged after their recovery. Health Ministry official Fernando Simon has tested positive for the coronavirus.

The official figures released by the Spanish Health Ministry on Sunday, March 29, showed that 838 people had died from the novel coronavirus on Sunday - the highest day-on-day increase seen so far in the country. This takes the total death toll in Spain to 6,528, with 5,000 of these deaths occurring in the past seven days. The coronavirus death rate in Spain is currently at 8.3%. The total number of confirmed cases stand at 78,797. 4,907 of those cases are currently spread out in intensive care units throughout the country. So far, 14,709 people have recovered from the virus in Spain. Spain's Equality Minister, Irene Montero, who tested positive for the virus several weeks ago, has once more tested positive, and will be working in isolation from home. Her partner, Deputy Prime Minister Pablo Iglesias, tested negative.

There were 5,704 new coronavirus cases in Spain on Saturday, March 28, taking the total number of confirmed cases in the country to 72,248. 12,285 of the over 70,000 confirmed cases have recovered - about 17% of all infections. 832 new deaths were also recorded, an increase from Friday's 769 deaths. Madrid, the epicenter of the pandemic in Spain, reported a total of 19,243 cases and 2,412 deaths (as of Friday). Fernando Simón, the Spanish Health Ministry's emergencies coordinator said the coronavirus epidemic could be nearing its peak in Spain. "We are reaching the peak that we have been so worried about. In some parts of the country they may even be moving past it, but we need to be cautious.  "The increase is slowing or stabilizing little by little," he added. He also addressed the increased pressure on hospitals' intensive care units. "We still have a big problem with the saturation of our intensive care units," he said. "The pati...