Spain adjusts death toll downwards by 2,000

In a surprise announcement, Spain on Monday corrected its official death toll from COVID-19, saying that almost 2,000 fewer people than previously thought had died from the disease caused by the new coronavirus.

The Health Ministry said the amended death toll stood at 26,834 - down from the death toll published a day earlier of 28,752.

Fernando Simón, the director of Spain’s health alerts and emergency centre, explained the discrepancy was detected as officials sifted through and corrected data collected since the pandemic reached Spain.

Officials deleted deaths counted twice and deceased people who were not cases confirmed by tests, for example.

The quality of data being gathered had improved considerably, Simon said, adding that automated data collection had introduced errors.

However, the figures do not include the thousands of people who are believed to have died, especially in nursing homes, with symptoms attributable to the coronavirus, though unconfirmed.

Spanish regions have reported that the number of deaths in nursing homes, of both confirmed and suspected coronavirus cases, is close to 19,000.

The Health Ministry said 50 people died Monday, one of the lowest daily tolls in weeks.

Spain has officially recorded 235,400 cases, 246 of them new.