MADRID — In a surprise announcement, Spain has corrected its official death toll from covid-19, saying almost 2,000 fewer people than previously thought have died from the disease caused by the new coronavirus.
A Health Ministry statement Monday said the death toll stands at 26,834 — down from the number published a day earlier of 28,752.
Fernando Simon, the director of Spain’s health alerts and emergency center, said the discrepancy was detected as officials sifted through and corrected data collected since the pandemic reached Spain.
Officials have deleted deaths counted twice and deceased people who were not cases confirmed by tests, for example. The quality of data being gathered has improved considerably, he said, adding that automated data collection had introduced errors.
However, the figures do not include the thousands of people who are believed to have died, especially in nursing homes, with symptoms attributable to the coronavirus, though unconfirmed.
Spanish regions have reported that the number of deaths in nursing homes, of both confirmed and suspected coronavirus cases, is close to 19,000.
The change announced Monday makes France the nation with the fourth-highest number of reported coronavirus deaths, at 28,460 as of Monday night. The United States, the United Kingdom and Italy are the three leading nations for coronavirus fatalities.
The Health Ministry said 50 people died Monday, one of the lowest daily tolls in weeks.
Spain has officially recorded 235,400 cases, 246 of them new.