The new coronavirus has infected more than 200,000 people in Spain, although the spread of the disease is slowing, officials said on Monday, as the Supreme Court ordered the government to guarantee that medical workers receive adequate protective equipment, Trend reports citing Reuters.
With 200,210 recorded infections, Spain is second only to the United States in terms of confirmed cases, according to Reuters data. The cumulative death toll from the virus rose to 20,852 after 399 fatalities were recorded in the previous 24 hours.
But Health Emergency Chief Fernando Simon told a news conference that the rate of new infections continues to fall despite an increase in testing, suggesting the overall prevalence of the disease could be lower than expected in the population.
“Fortunately occurrence is falling a lot, even more than we had thought,” he said.
In the northern Basque region, an early hub of the outbreak, ambulance worker Marisa Arguello de Paula said she had noticed that her patients appeared generally calmer as the situation improved.
“You tell them things are going better, that hospitals aren’t so overloaded, and even though they’re on their own, they come more quietly,” she said.
In response to a complaint brought by medical unions, Spain’s Supreme Court ordered the Health Ministry to take all measures within its power to ensure health workers receive adequate protective equipment.
Medical professionals, who account for around 15.5% of the country’s coronavirus cases, had said that they were unable to access vital supplies like masks, gloves and surgical scrubs.