Spain overtakes China in number of confirmed covid-19 cases

With 812 new deaths and 6,398 more people testing positive for covid-19 in the previous 24 hours, on Monday, Spain overtook China - where the pandemic began - in the number of confirmed coronavirus cases.

With the number of confirmed cases in China standing at just over 81,000, the number of people testing positive in Spain rose to 85,195, with 7,340 people dying due to covid-19. In Catalonia, the number of infected rose to 16,157 people, and 1,410 deaths.

Catalonia is the territory in Spain with the highest number of cases after the Madrid region, where 24,090 cases have been confirmed and 3,392 people have died. After Catalonia comes the Basque Country, with 6,057 cases and 297 deaths due to covid-19.

More coronavirus deaths than in China

It is the second time in the past few days that Spain has overtaken China in terms of coronavirus figures. Last Wednesday, the Spanish authorities announced that 3,434 people had died due to covid-19, which surpassed China's death toll of just over 3,200.

Monday's figure of 812 new deaths in Spain due to covid-19 is slightly less than the 838 deaths announced in the previous 24 hours over the weekend. Monday also saw fewer people testing positive, at 6,398 compared to 8,100.

Yet, in Catalonia, Sunday's figures bucked a downward trend in the number of new infections and deaths in previous days. The health department said there were 184 new deaths and 1,131 new confirmed cases, compared to 156 deaths and 763 new cases on Saturday.