MADRID, April 18. /TASS/. At least 20,043 people have died from coronavirus in Spain, according to apress release of the country’s Ministry of Health.

The department said that a total of 191,726 cases of infection were detected, while 74,662 patients have already recovered. Thus, over 24 hours, the number of infected increased by 4,499, deaths - by 565, recovered patients - by 3,166. An anti-record was set in the country on April 1 - then 950 patients fell victim to the pandemic.

The first case of coronavirus in Spain was detected on January 31, the number of infected people began to rise sharply after the outbreak in Italy. Since mid-March, the kingdom has been on high alert - this measure allowed the authorities to restrict movement of residents throughout the country, except in cases of emergency.

In late December 2019, Chinese officials notified the World Health Organization (WHO) about the outbreak of a previously unknown pneumonia in the city of Wuhan, in central China. Since then, cases of the novel coronavirus - named COVID-19 by the WHO - have been reported in every corner of the globe, including Russia. On March 11, 2020, the WHO declared the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic.