Nearly 1,000 new virus cases in Spain in 24 hours

Military Emergencies Unit (UME) members carry out a general disinfection at the North train station in Valencia on Monday. Pic/AFP

Spain registered nearly 1,000 new COVID-19 infections over the past 24 hours, raising the total number of cases to 8,744, the health ministry said on Monday. Over the same period, the number of deaths rose by nine to 297, the ministry's emergencies coordinator Fernando Simon said. The figure for new cases was lower than weekend numbers when 2,000 infections were detected between Saturday and Sunday and the number of deaths rose by around 100.

Of the total number, Madrid remains the worst-affected region, with 4,665 cases. In order to rein in the virus, Spain has declared a state of alert, shutting all but essential services and ordering its population of 46 million people to stay at home. People are only authorised to go out to buy food or medicine, to go to work or to get medical treatment.

Iran reports 129 new deaths
Iran said on Monday that the Coronavirus killed 129 more people, a new record high for a single day in one of the world's worst-hit countries. "Our plea is that everyone takes this virus seriously and in no way attempt to travel," health ministry spokesman Kianoush Jahanpour said in a televised news conference.

The latest deaths bring the overall toll to 853 fatalities since February 19, when the government announced Iran's first two deaths from the virus. Tehran province had the highest number of new infections with 200 cases, about 50 fewer than the day before. The central province of Isfahan followed with 118 cases, with Mazandaran in the north coming next with 96.

4,665
No. of cases reported in Madrid

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