Spain coronavirus: The number of infected people exceeds 130,000

The number of people who have tested positive for the virus has been 130,759, including 4,591 new cases confirmed in the last 24 hours.

While at least 6,861 hospitalized people are in intensive care, 38,080 patients have been discharged from hospitals after being cured.

355,000 coronavirus tests have been conducted until now in the country.

The number of infected is considered to be higher than the confirmed tally due to lack of testing; only those with severe symptoms are offered tests and this likely lags symptom onset by as much as a week.

The total number of infected could be ten times higher than confirmed cases, or even more than that.

Deaths are also underestimated, because some people are not tested before they die due to health system failure and many elderly people are dying at home or in nursing homes without being diagnosed with the virus.

The pandemic was confirmed to have spread to Spain on 31 January 2020, when a German tourist tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 in La Gomera, Canary Islands.

On 24 February, following a COVID-19 outbreak in Italy, Spain confirmed multiple cases related to the Italian clusters, originating from a medical doctor from Lombardy, Italy, who was on holiday in Tenerife.

Afterwards, multiple COVID-19 cases were detected in Tenerife involving people who had come in contact with the doctor. Other cases involving individuals who visited Italy were also discovered in mainland Spain.

NATO said that Spain's military had asked for international assistance in their response to the global pandemic of the coronavirus COVID-19.

On 25 March 2020, the death toll in Spain surpassed that of mainland China; only Italy has a higher death toll globally.

There have been registered cases in the 50 provinces of the country. (ILKHA)