Over 800 Dead in Spain in One Day From CCP Virus

Members of the Emergency Military Unit give instructions to a van driver outside the Palacio de Hielo (Ice Rink), which has been temporarily converted into a morgue with hundreds of bodies of victims of the CCP virus, in Madrid on March 27, 2020. Xaume Olleros/Getty Images

Over 800 people died from the CCP virus in Spain over the last 24 hours, authorities said on Saturday.

The Epoch Times refers to the novel coronavirus, which causes the COVID-19 disease, as the CCP virus because the Chinese Communist Party’s coverup and mismanagement allowed the virus to spread throughout China before it was transmitted worldwide. The party also underreported figures from the outbreak, including the number of infections and deaths.

Spain is one of the hardest-hit countries in the world and has the highest officially reported death toll behind Italy. The death toll climbed to 5,690, an increase of 832 from the day before, the Ministry of Health said.

Spain’s mortality rate increased to 7.8 percent. Most countries are seeing rates closer to 1 percent.

The total number of infections in the European country rose to 72,248, a jump of 8,189, while the number of hospitalized increased by over 4,000, and 410 more patients are being cared for in intensive care units.

A priest wearing a mask performs funeral rites at a cemetery during the CCP virus outbreak in Madrid on March 27, 2020. Bernat Armangue/AP Photo

The percentage of patients in intensive care and those who have died have climbed significantly in the last 10 days, Spanish researcher Matthew Bennett noted.

The influx of patients has forced Spain to erect makeshift morgues in a skating rink in Madrid and an empty building built during a failed project in 2005. Madrid, the capital of 6.5 million, remains the region with the most cases, reporting 2,757 deaths and 21,520 confirmed cases.

The country announced a nationwide lockdown earlier this month and extended it to April 11 this week. It faces a severe shortage of personal protective equipment like masks for medical workers, leading to the workers comprising approximately 15 percent of infections.

Spain was also among the countries that received tests from China that fail in 70 to 80 percent of cases.

A man carrying grocery bags walks in a deserted street in Madrid on March 27, 2020. Gabriel Bouys/AFP via Getty Images

Spanish authorities on Saturday also said that nearly 3,000 more patients had recovered from COVID-19, bringing the number of cured to 12,285.

Approximately 17 percent of known patients in the country have been cured.

No vaccine or proven treatment for the new illness exists but worldwide around four out of five patients don’t require hospitalization and recover with rest and symptom treatment.

Mortality rates are believed to be lower than reported by health officials because of the number of patients who contract the illness but never get tested. The CCP virus causes only mild or moderate symptoms in many patients. Symptoms are similar to the flu and include fever, cough, and shortness of breath.