Coronavirus in Spain figures (18 Sept)

Report below updated in Spain at 21h on Fri 18 Sept

CORONAVIRUS in SPAIN – latest Health Ministry figures

ALSO READ (19/9/20): Madrid in partial lockdown, with regional government under spotlight

The latest official figure* released by the Spanish Health Ministry on Friday 18 September for the number of people who have tested positive for Coronavirus (Covid-19) is now 640,040. This is an overall increase of 14,389 against the figure released on Thursday – although the ministry claims that 4,697 of these infections have occurred in the past 24 hours. Figures yesterday excluded an update from Murcia for ‘technical reasons’.

The ministry states that it is still verifying and updating historical data (please also see discrepancies in figures* below). It has also not been updating any figures during the weekends since Friday 3 July.

There have now been 125,944 cases of Coronavirus detected in the past 14 days – out of the total 640,040. The figure for infections detected in the past 7 days is 58,347.

Figures released today also show that 2,485 people have required hospital treatment in the past 7 days, with 185 in intensive care.

The official figures* for the total number of Coronavirus-related deaths on Friday 18 September is now 30,495 – an increase of 90 since Thursday’s figures (and according to the ministry, it is a total of 432 deaths in the past 7 days).

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.

Increase in infections

Figures released on Thursday had shown an overall increase of 11,291 infections against Wednesday’s figures – with the ministry stating that 4,541 had occurred in a 24 hour period.

Wednesday had seen an overall increase of 11,193 infections against Tuesday – yet 4,728 in a 24 hour period.

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

When Spain imposed its ‘state of alarm’ from Saturday 14 March, the Health Ministry had confirmed 4,231 known cases of Coronavirus at the time (based on figures released on Friday 13 March), with 121 deaths. By Monday 16 March, there had been a further 4,960 confirmed infections, taking the total at the time to 9,191. The death toll on 16 March had increased to 309.

Of the 4,697 new infections registered in the past 24 hours by the Health Ministry on Friday 18 September, the numbers per region are as follows:

1,553 in Madrid (45,482 new cases in past 14 days)
490 in the Basque Country (7,350)
430 in Andalusia (11,900)
419 in Aragón (4,779)
266 in Extremadura (2,539)
260 in Navarra (3,655)
256 in Castilla La Mancha (7,618)
183 in Catalonia (12,294)
154 in the Canary Islands (3,121)
136 in Murcia (4,883)
115 in La Rioja (1,331)
93 in Asturias (838)
78 in Castilla y León (7,648)
77 in the Balearic Islands (1,695)
75 in the Valencia Region (5,923)
53 in Cantabria (1,493)
45 in Galicia (3,012)
4 in Melilla (252)
10 in Ceuta (131)

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

IFEMA hospital — An image of Madrid’s IFEMA exhibition centre hospital that was set up at the height of the crisis. (Comunidad de Madrid)

Madrid imposes new restrictions

The president of the Madrid regional government, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, has announced new restrictions in 37 areas of the Madrid region, including in 6 districts of the city itself, to further combat the spread of Coronavirus.

Click here for full updated report: Madrid in partial lockdown, with regional government under spotlight

Spain imposes strict new measures on nightlife

On Friday 14 August Spain announced strict new measures on nightlife across the whole country – as well as a ban on smoking outside, where social distancing cannot be maintained – in a further attempt to stop the spread of Coronavirus (Covid-19). Each region of Spain has imposed the restrictions following their own timetable – and some regions have made restrictions even tighter.

These are the key measures:

Music bars, nightclubs and discos will be closed across Spain.
All other bars and restaurants to close at 1am, with last customers allowed by midnight.
Following the measures already taken in Galicia and the Canary Islands, smoking will also be prohibited outside if 2 metre social distancing cannot be maintained.
There should be 10 people maximum at tables.
No ‘botellones’ (street drinking parties) allowed.

Read the full report here: Spain imposes strict new measures on nightlife across the country

*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.