Healthcare workers push a patient on a stretcher at the emergency unit at 12 de Octubre Hospital, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Madrid, Spain March 30, 2020. /Reuters
Spain's death toll surged over 9,000 Wednesday as infections passed the 100,000 mark, but the rate of new cases continued to slow, suggesting the epidemic had peaked, health chiefs said.
Spain has the world's second-highest death toll after Italy, with the virus so far claiming 9,053 lives after a record 864 people died over the past 24 hours, while the number of confirmed cases reached 102,136.
But on a day-to-day basis, the rate of new infections continued its week-long downward trend.
And most importantly, the number of people in hospital and those in intensive care was falling, suggesting the epidemic had reached its peak, Fernando Simon, head of the health ministry''s emergency coordination unit.
"This is important," said Simon who himself was diagnosed with the virus this week.
"Right now the central issue is not whether we have reached the peak or not, it seems we're already there, and the numbers are going down."
The main priority now was to ensure that the health system was capable of guaranteeing adequate coverage for all patients, Simon said.
Officials said the figures gave a "very positive" indication that the unprecedented lockdown put in place on March 14, confining Spain''s population of nearly 47 million to their homes, was working.
Crunching the numbers, Wednesday''s figures showed new cases increasing by just over 8.0 per cent, compared with nearly 11 per cent on Tuesday and 20 percent a week ago.
They also showed the death rate increasing at a rate of 10.6 per cent compared with 27 per cent a week ago, with Dr Maria Jose Sierra from the emergencies coordination unit saying the recent fatalities were those "who were infected two or three weeks ago".
Madrid has been by far the worst-hit area, with Wednesday's figures raising the death toll to 3,865, with the region suffering close to 30,000 cases, leaving hospitals and mortuaries overwhelmed.
On the upside, the number of people recovering has been steadily growing, rising to 22,647 on Wednesday after another 3,388 were declared virus-free, the figures showed. Nearly half of that number are in the Madrid region.