More than 900 virus deaths in Spain for second day

An almost empty A1 highway in Burgos, Castilla y Leon on March 30, 2020, on the day that all non-essential activities were ordered to halt trying to contain the coronavirus spread. (AFP)

• Health ministry figures confirm a consistent downward trend in the rate of new cases and fatalities

MADRID: More than 900 people died in Spain over the past 24 hours for the second day running, government figures showed on Friday, although the rate of new infections and deaths continued to slow.
Spain has the world’s second-highest death toll after Italy with the virus so far claiming 10,935 lives — 932 in the past day — from 117,710 confirmed cases.
But health ministry figures confirm a consistent downward trend in the rate of new cases and fatalities.
The latest number show the rate of infections up by 6.8 percent, compared with 7.9 percent on Thursday and 20 percent in the middle of last week.
And the daily rise in deaths also slowed to 9.3 percent on Friday, down from 10.5 percent on Thursday, and a big drop from the 27-percent increase on March 25.