Spain relaxes lockdown as daily coronavirus death toll falls to 517 [View all]

[muriel_volestrangler]

Source: The Guardian

Spaniards were being handed masks at transport hubs on Monday as the government relaxed some tough lockdown measures and a few businesses including from the construction and manufacturing sectors tentatively reopened.

With Spain entering its second month of lockdown, firms that cannot operate remotely were allowed to resume work, sparking criticism from some regional leaders who fear a resurgence of the coronavirus outbreak.

The majority of the population are still stuck in their homes. Shops, bars and public spaces will remain closed until at least 26 April. The prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, said on Sunday the country remained firmly in lockdown despite the easing of restrictions on non-essential workers.

The partial relaxation came as Spain’s overnight death toll from the coronavirus fell to 517 on Monday from Sunday’s 619, bringing the total death toll to 17,489, the health ministry said. It was the smallest proportional daily increase since tracking began. Overall cases rose to 169,496 from 166,019.



Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/13/spain-relaxes-lockdown-as-daily-coronavirus-death-toll-falls-to-517

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This seems optimistically early to me - their peak in daily deaths was about 10 days ago, and they're now at the rate of about 20 days ago (graph at link), but, per capita , 517 for Spain is equivalent to about 3,800 for the USA. It's possible true positive cases are declining fast, but without truly representative testing, which few countries have achieved, you can't tell.