Roundup: Spain caseload continues to surge, France mulls halving quarantine

Madrid Desk, Sep 8 (efe-epa).- Spanish health authorities on Tuesday added almost 9,000 coronavirus cases to the overall national tally — 3,168 dating to the previous 24-hour-period — while French authorities mulled shortening the obligatory quarantine period.

Elsewhere in Europe, the United Kingdom toughened measures in a northern English city where cases have spiked and a vaccine testing program got up and running in the Italian city of Verona.

SPAIN

Spain’s health ministry said the number of total cases detected in the country, one of Europe’s worst-hit since the pandemic began earlier this year, had risen to 534,513 after a further 8,964 cases were added to the national tally. Some 3,168 of those were logged in the previous 24 hours.

There have been a total of 29,594 Covid-related deaths in Spain although the fatality rate has dropped significantly since the first wave of the pandemic, which peaked between mid-March and May, when it affected older people in greater numbers.

The country’s capital Madrid, the largest city in Spain, retains the unenviable status as the country’s leading coronavirus hotspot, accounting for 774 infections and 21 deaths in the last 24 hours.

On Monday Spain became the first Western European nation to surpass the milestone of half a million infections since the onset of the outbreak.

FRANCE

France’s scientific council has said it is in favor of shortening quarantine from the current 14 days to seven.

Health minister Olivier Véran announced the guidance on Tuesday and will put it before the government on Friday.