Spain reports lowest daily coronavirus death toll in nearly 7 weeks

Spain's death toll from the new coronavirus rose by 164 to 25,264 on Sunday, health ministry data showed, marking the lowest one-day increase since March 18.

Confirmed cases of the virus rose to 217,466, from 216,582 on Saturday, the ministry said. Madrid and Catalonia remain the two worst affected regions, with 8,332 and 5,185 fatalities respectively.

The declining death rate is an encouraging sign for Spain, which on Saturday took a large step towards unwinding its stiff lockdown by allowing adults to exercise outdoors for the first time in seven weeks.