Spain's death toll surged over 9,000 Wednesday as infections passed the 100,000 mark, but the rate of new cases continued to slow, suggesting the epidemic had peaked, health chiefs said.
Spain has the world's second-highest death toll after Italy, with the virus so far claiming 9,053 lives after a record 864 people died over the past 24 hours, while the number of confirmed cases reached 102,136.
But on a day-to-day basis, the rate of new infections continued its week-long downward trend.
And most importantly, the number of people in hospital and those in intensive care was falling, suggesting the epidemic had reached its peak, Fernando Simon, head of the health ministry's emergency coordination unit.
"This is important," said Simon who himself was diagnosed with the virus this week.
"Right now the central issue is not whether we have reached the peak or not, it seems we're already there, and the numbers are going down."
"Unfortunately this epidemic has shown us that we are not at all prepared to deal with this number of people."
"Or one nurse came to work the day after her mother died, but she wasn't there at the time because she was working and feels horribly guilty."
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