Spain reports 117,710 coronavirus cases, surpassing Italy

Spain reported 7,472 new COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours, taking the country's total to 117,710.

Spain has now surpassed total number of infections in Italy, which currently has 115,242 cases.

According to the Spanish health ministry, 932 deaths were also reported, bringing its death toll to 10,935.

The ministry noted a consistent downward trend in rate of both new infections and fatalities.

The rate of infections up by 6.8 percent, compared with 7.9 percent on Thursday and 20 percent in the middle of last week.

The daily rise in deaths also slowed to 9.3 percent on Friday, down from 10.5 percent on Thursday, and a big drop from the 27 percent increase on March 25. 

On Friday, some Spanish media also reported the government is mulling an extension of national state emergency until April 26, which was originally due to end on April 11. 

(With input from AFP)