Spain for the first time in two months reported the number of deaths caused by nCoV below 100 in the wake of blockade preparation.

The number of deaths increased from 87 to 27,650, while the number of new infections increased by 1,214 to 277,719, according to statistics from Worldometer.

Spain is one of the countries with the most stringent European blockade measures since March 14 to prevent nCoV from spreading.

However, Fernando Simon, the anti-Covid-19 commander of Spain, warned that the low number of deaths on May 17 could be due to the delay in reporting weekends.

At a press conference, when asked whether health officials had enough resources to deal with the current level of patients, Simon said the Ministry of Health "was actively gathering resources but the amount of supplies.

A doctor in Madrid said she was worried that hospitals would not be able to cope if Spain broke out a second time.

As the government begins to lift restrictions on travel, authorities are considering extending the mandatory rule of wearing masks on public transport to all other public spaces.

"The proposal to tighten the regulation of wearing mandatory masks is getting broad consensus," said Health Minister Salvador Illa.

From May 18, residents of the sparsely populated islands of the Canary Islands may be allowed to go outside at any time of the day.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said yesterday he would lobby parliament to extend the emergency period to the end of June, when most areas are expected to return to normal.

Covid-19 originated in China in December 2019, now appears in more than 210 countries and territories with more than 4.7 million cases of nCoV, nearly 314,000 deaths and more than 1.8 million people have recovered.

Updated: 23:11, 17/5 | Source: WorldOMeters