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Coronavirus in Spain figures (29 July)

An image of the Spanish Congress session on 29 July 2020. (Congreso.es)

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Report below updated in Spain at 17.50h on Wednesday 29 July

CORONAVIRUS in SPAIN – latest Health Ministry figures

The latest official figure* released by the Spanish Health Ministry on Wednesday 29 July for the number of people who have tested positive for Coronavirus (Covid-19) is now 282,641. This is an overall increase of 2,031 against the figure released on Tuesday – yet with the ministry stating that 1,153 of these infections have occurred in the past 24 hours – the highest daily increase since 1 May. The ministry says it is still verifying and updating historical data (please also see discrepancies in figures* below).

427 people have now needed hospital treatment in the past 7 days, of whom 21 have required intensive care.

Tuesday had shown an increase of 1,828 infections compared to the figures released on Monday – yet with the Health Ministry claiming it had been 905 in a 24 hour period.

Monday had been 855 infections in a 24 hour period – but an overall increase of 6,361 since Friday.

Of the 1,153 new infections registered in the past 24 hours by the central Health Ministry in Spain, 424 are in Aragón (with 2,751 new cases there in the past 7 days), 211 in Catalonia (with 5,077 new cases in past 7 days), 199 in Madrid, 88 in the Basque Country, 61 in Andalusia, 41 in Navarra37 in the Valencia region and 28 in Murcia.

7 cases have been registered in the Canary Islands in the past 24 hours, and 1 in the Balearic Islands.

The current peak of recorded infections for a 24-hour period in Spain was on 31 March, when 9,222 new cases were registered.

The Ministry of Health’s official figures* for Wednesday 29 July also now show that there have been a total of 28,441 Coronavirus-related deaths in Spain – an increase of 5 since Tuesday.

The current known peak of recorded deaths related to Coronavirus in a 24-hour period in Spain was on 2 April, when 950 deaths were registered.

A full breakdown of the data per region, together with age group statistics can be found by clicking here.

An image of the Spanish Congress session on 29 July 2020. (Congreso.es)

Spanish government overlooks social distancing in Congress

The PSOE-Podemos coalition government overlooked social distancing recommendations during a session at the Spanish Congress in Madrid on Wednesday. The 120 PSOE MPs occupied nearly all of their allocated seats in the 350-seat chamber, instead of voting remotely – as has been customary since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.

It was the last session of Congress before the summer recess – but the parliamentary groups had an ‘unwritten pact’ during the crisis to only be represented by up to 50% of their MPs in person.

Opposition MPs criticised the government on Wednesday, claiming that the purpose of attending the parliament and filling the seats was simply to applaud Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez for the recent EU meeting for the Coronavirus Recovery Fund

Spokesman for the Ciudadanos (Cs) party, Edmundo Bal, said, ‘We are hardly going to enforce the rules [of social distancing] if the people who pass them bypass them’.

Another view of the Spanish Congress on 29 July 2020, showing more spaces in the opposition seats. (Congreso.es)

Of the 88 MPs who represent the right-wing People’s Party (PP), 44 voted remotely and did not attend Congress on Wednesday – but it has not always been the case during the Coronavirus crisis.

On 10 June, the PSOE MP, Rafael Simancas, criticised the opposition party, saying, ‘The PP has brought today to the plenary session of Congress more than 50% of its MPs in breach of the agreement of the board of spokespersons to limit 25% and putting at risk the health of deputies and workers’.

In the Spanish Congress on Wednesday, the far-right Vox party led by Santiago Abascal announced that it would be seeking a vote of no confidence in Pedro Sánchez in September – although the motion is currently unlikely to obtain sufficient support. In response, Sánchez asked: ‘Why wait until September?’

Situation in Catalonia

Independently of the way that Spain’s Health Ministry presents its figures (above), the regional health department in Catalonia has released its own data on Wednesday showing that a further 683 new cases of Coronavirus have been registered there in the past 24 hours.

On Tuesday there had been 870 new cases of Coronavirus in Catalonia.

Monday had seen 717 new cases in 24 hours. Sunday had been 851 and Saturday 1,243.

*Discrepancies in figures

Although the Health Ministry updated its official Coronavirus mortality figures on 19 June following on-going discrepancies with the data released by some of the country’s regional health authorities – there are still huge differences in the ‘excess mortality’ figures published for this period in Spain.

Click here for full report: Spain’s ‘excess mortality’ during Coronavirus pandemic is over 43,000

Spain’s National Statistics Institute (INE) published figures showing that the number of deaths for the first 21 weeks of 2020 have been 24% higher than for the same period in 2019 – based on information received from the country’s civil registries (1 January to 24 May). The number of deaths during this period for 2020 is 43,945 higher than in 2019.

Spain – ‘New Normality’

After three months under a ‘state of alarm’ (since 14 March), Spain entered its ‘New Normality’ phase on Monday 22 June, following on from the government’s four phased plan to relax the country’s lockdown restrictionsCLICK HERE for all details: Spain’s ‘New Normality’ – key points

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