Spain Sees Some Positive Signs As Number Of New COVID Cases Eases

RAVAL DISTRICT, BARCELONA, SPAIN - 2020/04/05: A man wearing a face mask as a preventive measure against the COVID-19 coronavirus walks on an empty street. Due to the confinement order in Spain decreed by the Spanish President Pedro Sanchez to fight against the Coronavirus (Covid-19) the cities are practically empty. (Photo by Xavi Herrero/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
RAVAL DISTRICT, BARCELONA, SPAIN - 2020/04/05: A man wearing a face mask as a preventive measure against the COVID-19 coronavirus walks on an empty street. Due to the confinement order in Spain decreed by the Spanis... RAVAL DISTRICT, BARCELONA, SPAIN - 2020/04/05: A man wearing a face mask as a preventive measure against the COVID-19 coronavirus walks on an empty street. Due to the confinement order in Spain decreed by the Spanish President Pedro Sanchez to fight against the Coronavirus (Covid-19) the cities are practically empty. (Photo by Xavi Herrero/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images) MORE LESS
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MADRID — Health officials in Madrid say the strain of incoming patients is easing in hospitals and allowing authorities to think about how to start reverting those facilities to normal operations.

Patients awaiting treatment in emergency wards across the region of 6.6-million that has been hard hit by the new coronavirus went down Monday to 390 cases. That’s one tenth of the arrivals that were seen one week ago.

The number of people being treated for the coronavirus in intensive care units had fluctuated but stabilized at around 1,500 for five straight days.

Regional health minister Enrique Ruíz Escudero says officials are considering returning beds that have been used for positive COVID-19 patients to beds used for normal activity in hospitals.

The development follows a week of social media postings showing patients resting on the floor and in chairs at the suburban hospital.

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