Spain’s state of alarm ends with over 28,000 COVID-19 deaths and almost 250,000 infected

SPAIN’S state of alarm ended on Saturday night with the number of confirmed COVID-19 deaths and infections reaching 28,322 and 245,938 respectively.

When the Spanish Government kickstarted the lockdown on March 14, there were 5,734 people infected by the coronavirus and 136 dead.

These are the official figures provided by the Ministry of Health, with the actual number likely to be much higher.

With 245,938 infections confirmed by PCR, Spain is in sixth place worldwide, behind the United States (2,178,710), Brazil (1,032,913), Russia (576,952), United Kingdom (301,815) and Peru (247,925).

In terms of death toll, Spain also places sixth worldwide, surpassed by the United States (118,365), Brazil (48,954), the United Kingdom (42,461), Italy (34,561) and France (29,617).

The sanctions imposed during the almost 100 days of lockdown have seen 9,000 people arrested and almost 1.2 million fines handed out for failing to comply with the state of alarm regulations.

Andalucia has seen 1,417 rule breakers detained and 194,055 sanctions handed out.

Some fines ranged from €600 euros for unauthorised travel to €10,400 for organising or taking part in group activities that posed a risk of contagion.

Despite the threat of a fine, many individuals did their best to invent their own unique workarounds.

One man in Catalunya took his goat for a stroll, though police determined the animal was not on the list of authorised pets.

In the absence of a dog and in a bid to escape lockdown, another individual took a cuddly toy out for a walk instead.