Coronavirus in Spain: two regions question the official record

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With 182,816 people infected and 19,130 ​​dead, Spain is the third country most affected by the coronavirus epidemic and the first if compared to the population. But this death toll would actually be higher, say several experts and also from regions including that of Madrid and Catalonia

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With our correspondent in Madrid, François Musseau

How many Spain does Coronavirus actually have? The question has been posed for a good week when several epidemiologists believe that the official figure is much lower than the reality, because it only takes into account deaths in hospital.

The debate is now more marked. Two regions, Catalonia and the Madrid Region, the most affected by the pandemic, say the same thing by contesting the statistics of the central government. The Catalan authorities claim that people who die at home and in retirement homes are not taken into account in the calculation of deaths. The Madrid regional government agrees, and speaks like Catalonia of at least 3,000 unaccounted for deaths.

The director of the health emergency center Fernando Simon, the great national coordinator, defends that the official deaths correspond only to people who have previously tested positive for Covid-19. In the two disputing regions, it is argued that people who were not officially deceased from the coronavirus actually presented the same symptoms and were therefore also victims of the pandemic.

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