MADRID, April 3 (Xinhua) -- The number of deaths caused by the coronavirus in Spain rose to 10,935 on Friday with additional 932 people losing their lives in the last 24 hours, according to the Spanish Ministry for Health, Consumer Affairs and Social Welfare.
The 932 deaths between Thursday and Friday were slightly lower than the record number of 950 deaths in the previous 24 hours. It was still the second-highest daily death toll in Spain.
The good news was that the growth of the daily number of new infection cases continued to slow down, fresh figures indicated.
In the 24-hour span, Spain reported 7,472 new cases, taking the total number from 110,238 to 117,710. The 6.7-percent growth was lower than the 8-percent rise recorded in the previous 24-hour span, and far lower than the 12-percent daily increase at the start of this week.
Based on the new data, 56,637 COVID-19 patients needed hospital treatment in Spain, a rise of 2,524 from Thursday, with 6,416 requiring treatment in intensive care units -- an increase of 324 over the previous 24 hours.
Madrid and the Catalan Region continue to be the two worst-affected parts of Spain. Madrid reported 4,483 deaths from a total number of 34,188 infection cases. The Catalan Region registered 2,335 deaths out of its 23,460 cases.
The number of people who have recovered from COVID-19 rose to 30,513, with 3,770 patients recovered over the last 24 hours.
Earlier on Thursday, Spanish Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska said at a televised press conference that the government was considering extending the State of Alarm, which was imposed on March 14 and due to expire on April 12.
"Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez will make the decision in the coming days after listening to the experts," said Grande-Marlaska.
"We are facing a dynamic and changing situation. We speak to the scientific committee every day to decide what the best way to proceed is," he said, highlighting how the growth of new confirmed cases of COVID-19 has slowed down over the past week.
"The first two weeks of confinement and the further two weeks that were added have given positive results," the minister commented.
A State of Alarm is the first of three emergency levels which a Spanish government can apply under exceptional circumstances, with the others being "State of Exception" and "Martial Law".
A State of Alarm grants the government special powers to limit the movement of citizens, control the means of production and use private assets, and use the military to carry out essential logistical and supply jobs if needed.
On April 1, Spain became the third country in the world that had more than 100,000 coronavirus infections cases, after the U.S. and Italy.
