The Spanish government's new calculation system for coronavirus statistics has yet to achieve standardisation of figures across the whole state. Two days ago, Spain's health ministry changed its criteria in the face of obvious failings, and now it takes into account not only Covid-19 deaths in hospitals, but also those in senior citizens' residences and people's own homes, as long as they had previously tested positive for the virus. However, this Saturday, the figures for deaths and infections in Catalonia offered by the Spanish ministry do not coincide with those provided by Catalonia's health authorities last night.
This Saturday the centralised Spanish situation report says that in the last 24 hours, 565 people have died in Spain, meaning that the total number of people who have lost their lives now exceeds 20,000. In absolute figures, Spain now has 20,043 victims from the virus. The official data from the ministry, then, says that there has been another slight decrease in the daily figure - as on Friday the total number of deaths in the previous 24 hours period was 585.
As for the number of newly infected people in the Spanish state, if one accepts the measurement systems now in place, there seems to be a linear rate of increase in total infections in Spain, with around 5,000 new cases confirmed daily. In the last 24 hours, 4,499 infections were registered, creating a new total of 191,726 people infected with the virus since the beginning of the epidemic in Spain, counting all of those tested via the two main systems, PCR and rapid antibody tests.
Still only considering those who have been tested, the number of people who were ill with the virus and have since been given a medical all-clear continues to rise: according to Spanish health ministry data, there have been 74,662 all-clears, 3,166 more than on Friday.
Figures that don't match those of Catalonia
However, the figures provided by the Spanish ministry broken down by autonomous communities do not match the numbers for Catalonia offered by the Catalan health ministry last night.
According to the Spanish government, there have been 127 deaths from coronavirus in the last 24 hours in Catalonia. The Catalan authorities raise this figure to 305, although by their count it is 174 less than the previous day. The total deaths in Catalonia, says the Catalan health department, now add up to 7,881 (4,123 in hospitals, 2,123 in senior citizens' residences, 88 in other health facilities and 491 at home, with the rest not able to be classified on the date available). This data is a result of cross-checking hospital figures with funeral company statistics.
Below, deaths per day in Catalonia from Covid-19 based on the Catalan statistics, which up till 15th April only included hospital deaths:
There are now 40,988 confirmed Covid-19 cases in Catalonia, while the new category of possible cases (shown by the black line at the top right of the graph below) now reaches 63,128 (3,933 more than yesterday) - people who have not been tested but who have been diagnosed by a doctor as "suspected" cases of coronavirus:
Daily occupancy of intensive care units in Catalonia by Covid-19 patients has been steadily falling in recent days:
The graph below gives an idea of some of the key changes in the Catalan statistics on the virus. Deaths (in black) have risen sharply as figures for non-hospital deaths have been added to the total, and the new teal-coloured "possible cases" line appearing at the top of the graph gives an idea of the dimension of the epidemic in Catalonia which until now official statistics have not attempted to measure.