Spain virus toll hits 5 as infections jump

Spain registered its fifth victim from the deadly coronavirus epidemic on Friday as the number of people infected with the virus jumped to 365, health officials said.

So far, all of the victims have been people in high-risk categories, elderly or suffering from a pre-existing condition, said Fernando Simon, the health ministry's chief coordinator for emergencies.

Since Thursday evening, 102 new cases have been confirmed in the biggest single-day jump since the start of the epidemic.

The highest concentration of cases - 137 - is in Madrid and the surrounding area, where health officials have discovered a flurry of cases at two elderly care centres.

Over the past 24 hours, two pensioners have died -- a 99-year-old woman and a 76-year-old man -- with Simon warning that a rise in cases among such fragile communities "could result in a greater mortality rate than expected".

Although both centres have been closed down, Simon ruled out plans for a wider closure.

Spain reported its first death on Tuesday evening, saying the victim had died on February 13 but was only diagnosed with COVID-19 during a post-mortem analysis in a development which has worried officials.

These deaths "show that the virus arrived earlier than thought" in Spain, Antoni Trilla, head of preventative medicine and epidemiology at the Hospital Clinic of Barcelona, told El Pais newspaper.