Spain reported on Monday zero deaths from the new coronavirus in a 24-hour period for the first time since the outbreak erupted in early March. The development is “very, very encouraging,” Spain's emergency health response chief Fernando Simon said. The country also recorded only 71 new coronavirus infections over the past 24 hours, Simon told a news conference. “We are in a very good place in the evolution of the pandemic,” Simon added. “The statistics are following a trend. They are going in the right direction.” To date, Spain's official death tally stands at 27,127, with 240,000 confirmed cases. Spain was the second European country hardest-hit by the virus after Italy before it also spread death in France and Britain. The country has put one of the world's strictest lockdowns into place in mid-March and managed to eventually reduce the pressure on hospitals after some were overwhelmed with patients suffering from the virus. The lockdown is gradually being eased as the medical situation improves.
