Coronavirus Death Toll In Spain Rises To 3 - Reports

The death toll from the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Spain has risen to three, with the total number of cases reaching 242, media reported on Thursday

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 05th March, 2020) The death toll from the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Spain has risen to three, with the total number of cases reaching 242, media reported on Thursday.

The first COVID-19 fatality in the country was confirmed on Tuesday. The deceased was a patient at Arnau Vilanova Hospital in the Valencia region, who passed away on February 13 from what the doctors initially called severe pneumonia. Retesting determined that the patient had been infected with the coronavirus.

The two new fatalities were a 99-year-old woman and an 82-year-old man, according to El Pais newspaper. The female victim died in hospital in Madrid on Tuesday. Her test for the coronavirus came back positive after her death.

The other victim died in the Basque Country, an autonomous community in northern Spain, on Wednesday.

The tally of those infected in the country has been on the rise since February 24. Before then, the country had only two COVID-19 cases � in the Canary Islands and the Balearic Islands. Both patients were foreigners who had contracted the virus outside Spain.

They have since recovered and been discharged from the hospital.

The number of coronavirus cases across Europe started jumping in late February, with Italy becoming the worst-hit country outside Asia.

Iceland, which recorded the first three coronavirus cases on March 1, reported on Thursday that the number of those infected had risen from 20 to 27.

"The individuals diagnosed are all Icelanders who have been recently traveling in Italy and Austria," the Department of Civil Protection and Emergency Management specified.

The department stated that it was closely monitoring Icelandic residents arriving from high-risk areas, recommending them to self-isolate for 14 days.

The statement noted that "there are no restrictions in place for tourists and there are no restrictions in place for travel to Iceland." The authorities expressed hope that the island nation, which has few entry points and the lowest population density in Europe, would effectively tackle the situation.