The coronavirus death toll in Spain surged over 9,000 on Wednesday after a record 864 deaths in 24 hours, with the number of confirmed cases passing the 100,000 mark, the government said.
Spain has the world's second-highest death toll after Italy, with the virus so far claiming 9,053 lives and the number of confirmed cases reaching 102,136.
But on a day-to-day basis, the rate of new infections continued its downward trend, showing an increase of just over 8%, compared with nearly 11% on Tuesday, health ministry figures showed.
And the death rate has also slowed, from 27% a week ago to 10.5% on Wednesday, with officials saying the data appear to show the epidemic is reaching its peak.