MADRID, April 9. /TASS/. At least 152,446 coronavirus cases have been recorded in Spain since the outbreak of the disease, the country’s Ministry of Health said on Thursday.

Some 15,238 people have died and 52,165 patients have recovered. Over the past 24 hours, the number of coronavirus cases has risen by 5,756 and the death toll has grown by 683.

Meanwhile the daily number of new coronavirus cases and fatalities in Spain is gradually declining. Spain recorded the highest death toll on April 1, overall 950 people.

Spain confirmed its first coronavirus case on January 31 and later faced a dramatic surge after the outbreak in Italy. In mid-March, the Spanish cabinet announced high alert due to coronavirus spread. This measure allowed the authorities to restrict citizens’ movement across the country except for urgent reasons.

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. According to the latest statistics, over 1,500,000 people have been infected worldwide and more than 88,000 deaths have been reported. In addition, so far over 331,000 individuals have recovered from the illness across the globe.

To date, a total of 10,131 coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Russia, with 698 patients having recovered from the virus. Moscow accounts for the majority of cases (6,698). Russia’s latest data indicates 76 fatalities nationwide. Earlier, the Russian government set up an Internet hotline to keep the public updated on the coronavirus situation.