Spain's coronavirus death rate rises; government seeks to harmonise data

MADRID (REUTERS, AFP) - Spain's overnight death toll from coronavirus was 585 on Friday (April 17), a rise from 551 the previous night but far off early April peaks as the country starts to loosen the terms of its lockdown.

Overnight figures of more than 900 were registered at the height of the outbreak in Spain, among countries worst-hit by the new coronavirus which causes respiratory disease Covid-19.

The total number of deaths in Spain now stands at 19,478 officially, the third-highest in the world after the United States and Italy.

The national death toll on Friday was the highest daily figure since Sunday when 619 people died in 24 hours.

Friday's numbers do not include suspected deaths from the virus, which the Spanish government reiterated it is not counting as part of overall numbers, in line with many other countries.

"Epidemiologically, it is important to maintain a common...criteria so that everyone counts the same," Dr Antoni Trilla, epidemiologist at Barcelona's Hospital Clinic and government adviser, wrote in La Vanguardia newspaper on Friday.

The government has said it will seek to harmonise how it collects data from Spain's 17 autonomous regions after Catalonia started including suspected deaths from coronavirus on Wednesday, greatly increasing its tally.

Spain's regions collated their own figures until a state of alarm was declared in response to the coronavirus outbreak on March 14 and the government centralised the collection of data.

Spanish health emergency chief Fernando Simon has said the country is following World Health Organisation guidelines by just including people proven to have contracted the coronavirus in the nationwide death toll.

Spain has begun to ease a strict lockdown imposed on March 14, opening up some sectors of the economy, including manufacturing, this week.

People are still confined to their houses except for essential outings like shopping for food and not even children are allowed out for exercise.

Catalonia's health department announced on Wednesday an additional 3,242 coronavirus deaths, nearly doubling its previous tally, as it included suspected and confirmed Covid-19 deaths in nursing homes and private homes for the first time.

These revised Catalan numbers have not been included in the official count.

"It must be recognised that that number of dead is much higher," Mr Ignacio Aguado, vice-president of Madrid's regional government, told Spain's RNE radio.

"We're only talking about those who have died in hospital after testing positive, but people are also dying in old people's residences and at home without having being tested, so we will never know the real number (of deaths) in this tragedy."