Coronavirus / Spain reports most coronavirus deaths in a day by any country as 950 die in 24 hours

Madrid: Spain has suffered another record-breaking day of coronavirus deaths, with 950 people killed by the disease in the last 24 hours.

It marks the country's third consecutive day of record death totals, with 849 dead on Tuesday, 864 killed Wednesday and 950 dying between Wednesday and today.

The new toll also brings the country's total fatalities above 10,000, rising from 9,053 on Wednesday to 10,003 on Thursday.

The number of new cases also increased by 8,102 in the last 24 hours, bringing the total from 102,136 to 110,238, but marks the lowest percentage increase in cases yet - in a sign that lockdown measures put in place almost three weeks ago are working.

A rise of 8,102 is a 7.9 per cent increase on the previous day's figures, beating the previous daily low of 8.1 per cent which came on Monday. 

The rate of increase was 42.7 per cent on March 13, the day before the lockdown was put in place and has gone as high as 200 per cent during the crisis.

Reducing the rate of infection is key to beating the virus, because each day of increases compounds on the number of cases the day before.

That means a 40 per cent increase in cases early on in the outbreak may only mean a few hundred more people getting sick, but the same percentage increase later on can mean tens of thousands of people getting sick in one go.  

Those sudden increases are what lead to healthcare systems becoming overwhelmed, which in turn increases the rate at which people die as key equipment such as ventilators runs out. 

Officials have said that the virus now appears to be reaching its peak in Spain, though pressure on hospitals will remain high in the coming days.

A third of Spanish regions report their intensive care units are at or near capacity, meaning the crisis in hospitals is unlikely to ease until the end of this week or early next week.

Madrid remains the worst-hit region, with 3,865 deaths and nearly 30,000 cases, leaving hospitals and mortuaries overwhelmed.  

The news came as Europe's death toll from the virus topped 30,000, with more than 450,000 infections.

That is compared to just 1,192 deaths and 36,347 infections when the World Health Organisation declared the continent the new virus epicentre on March 13.