COVID-19 STATS: Spain records 10,000 new coronavirus cases in biggest spike during second wave

The Ministry of Health has announced 9.658 new cases of COVID-19 to its official statistics today.

A total of 3,731 new cases were diagnosed through Wednesday, 26 August – however nearly 6,000 more cases have been updated to daily statistics announced over the last few days.

Madrid (979), Andalucia (384), the Canary Islands (326), Cataluña (164) and the Basque Country (636) lead the new infections, making up 66% of the total across the country.

Spain’s director for health emergencies, Fernando Simon, said the situation was nevertheless ‘under control’.

He said there are currently 6,036 patients with COVID-19 in Spanish hospitals, taking up 5% of available beds.

He also said the percentage of coronavirus patients requiring hospital treatment is far below that experienced during the first wave of the pandemic.

“What we are experiencing has nothing to do with what we went through. At the peak of the pandemic, 55% of all patients were in hospital. Now it’s just 5%.”