The country, one of the worst hit by the pandemic, has now recorded 15,238 deaths from COVID-19. The daily toll was down from 757 on Wednesday.
However, there has been growing speculation that officials may have grossly underestimated the death toll.
Authorities
in the Madrid region acknowledged on Wednesday that the number of
deaths in retirement homes could be five times as high as that announced
by health officials, who have not included almost 3,500 deaths of
people who had not been tested for the virus.
The number of daily new cases also dropped slightly Thursday, bringing the total to 152,446.
For
several days, the Spanish authorities have indicated that the peak of
the pandemic has been reached but asked citizens to continue to strictly
respect the confinement regulations.
"Our priority now
is not to turn back, especially not to return to our starting point, not
to lower our guard," Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez told parliament
Thursday.
Spain
has been subject to a strict lockdown since March 14 which has been
reinforced in the past two weeks by the cessation of all non-essential
activities until the Easter weekend.
The lower house of parliament is expected to extend the confinement to April 25 on Thursday.The government has not ruled out further extensions, while stressing that the measures should be eased gradually.
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