A total of 38,869 new cases were recorded since Tuesday and 195 deaths. The numbers bring the total number of infections in Spain to 2.18 million and the number of fatalities to 52,878 since the start of the pandemic. The spiralling contagion has been broadly blamed on family gatherings held over Christmas but Madrid’s health chief Enrique Ruiz Escudero said he suspected the highly contagious coronavirus variant first identified in Britain late last year was becoming a factor. Spain on Tuesday extended for another two weeks a ban on people entering from the UK by air or sea because of concerns over the new strain of the coronavirus detected there. Like most European nations, Spain imposed the entry restrictions on December 22nd following the discovery in Britain of a new strain of the coronavirus thought to be more contagious.

Source: The Local January 14, 2021 10:52 UTC