First cases (31 January – 25 February) On 31 January 2020, Spain confirmed its first COVID-19 case in
La Gomera, Canary Islands. A tourist from Germany tested positive and was admitted to
University Hospital of the Nuestra Señora de Candelaria. On 9February, the second case involved a male British tourist in
Palma de Mallorca, Balearic Islands, who contracted the disease after coming into contact with someone
in France who subsequently tested positive. On 9February,
Fernando Simón, the head of medical emergencies in Madrid, said "Spain will only have a handful of cases." On 13 February, the first death in Spain was recorded involving a 69-year-old man who had been in
Nepal. He died in
Valencia and was diagnosed post-mortem. On 24 February, following a COVID-19 outbreak in Italy, a medical doctor from
Lombardy, Italy, who was on holiday in
Tenerife, tested positive at the University Hospital of the Nuestra Señora de Candelaria in Spain. The H10 Costa Adeje Palace in Tenerife was put on lockdown. Following these early developments, by 24 February parliamentary opposition,
Vox in particular, called for travel restrictions between China and Spain, and Italy and Spain. The idea was rejected and criticised by the Government as alarmist and
xenophobic. On 25 February, four new cases related to the Italian cluster were confirmed in Spain. In Canary Islands, the wife of the medical doctor from Lombardy, who was on holiday in Tenerife, tested positive. A 24-year-old man from
Madrid, who recently returned from Northern Italy, tested positive and was admitted to
Hospital Carlos III. In the
Valencian Community, a man from
Villarreal, who recently travelled to
Milan, tested positive and was admitted to Hospital Universitario De La Plana,
Castellón. A retrospective analysis of 28 complete genetic sequences of the virus showed that by 14–18 February at least two different strains were already circulating in Spain, which means there were multiple introductions of the virus to Spain and not a single
patient zero.
Community transmission (26 February – 12 March) On 26 February, the first reported case in
Andalusia was confirmed in
Seville, the first case of
community transmission reported in Spain. On 28 February, nine more people tested positive in Andalusia and a fifth case was confirmed in Madrid. On 29 February,
Asturias and
Navarre reported their first cases, one each. On 1March, in Andalusia, two doctors were confirmed as infected, increasing the number of Andalusian cases to 12. In the Basque Country another four cases were reported, from other parts of Spain. In
Castilla–La Mancha the first case of coronavirus was confirmed, and
Extremadura announced the first four cases. On 2March in Cantabria, nine new cases originating from people who travelled to Italy increased the total cases there 10 cases in the community. In Castile and León five new cases in one day brought the total to eight people affected by coronavirus in the region. Catalonia reported three more positive cases, all related to travel from Italy. There were two new positives in Extremadura, bringing the total to 6. Madrid reported that its total had increased to 29. In La Rioja, the first case was confirmed. On 3 March, the second and third cases in
Asturias were reported. In the
Balearic Islands a third positive case was confirmed. In the Basque Country three more positives, two in Álava, and the first one in
Biscay, raised the total positives to 13 for the region. In Castilla–La Mancha there were four new cases reported, bringing the total up to seven, two in the province of Guadalajara and another two in the
province of Toledo. In the Community of Madrid 27 new positive cases of coronavirus brought the total up to 56, with five serious in intensive care. In La Rioja the second case of coronavirus was confirmed. In the Valencian Community, four new cases were confirmed, bringing the number of infected to 19 cases. The first death in Madrid took place on 3March but was not confirmed until 5March. visited the
Coordination Centre for Health Alerts and Emergencies (
es). On 8March, around 120,000 people participated in an
International Women's Day march in Madrid and some 60,000 football fans filled one of the city's largest stadiums. Parliamentary opposition speculates that the will to allow for the International Women's Day celebration was one of the primary reasons for the Government to downplay the danger, and delay pandemic response until later. march in Madrid, 8March 2020 On 9 March, the Catalan regional government suspended events with more than one thousand attendees under its jurisdiction. The first death in Extremadura was reported. On 12 March, most of the autonomous communities shut down their school systems, leaving more than ten million students (a million in university and nine million in primary and secondary education) at home, initially for two weeks. Two cases of the virus are confirmed in the autonomous city of
Melilla, while the first two cases reported in the island of
La Palma. Spain's stock index,
IBEX 35, fell 14%, in the highest drop in history for one day.
State of alarm (13–27 March) On 13 March,
Prime Minister of Spain Pedro Sánchez announced a declaration of a nationwide
State of Alarm for 15 days, to become effective the following day after the approval of the Council of Ministers. The president of the
Audiencia Nacional announced the suspension of all the ordinary functions of this Court for 15 days, keeping only the urgent proceedings and the court on duty. Judicial activity in the
Community of Madrid, Basque Country, Igualada and
Haro were suspended by an order of the
General Council of the Judiciary. Vicepresident of Castile and León, Francisco Igea, announced the suspension of the
Holy Week festivities in the region after talks with the regional administration. All provinces of Spain confirmed at least one positive after cases are confirmed in
Ávila,
Cuenca,
Huesca,
Palencia and
Soria, leaving the Autonomous City of Ceuta and the islands of El Hierro and Formentera as the only territories without cases reported. Catalonia reported 190 new cases in the highest rise in cases in a day. The first two cases were reported in the
autonomous city of
Melilla. All residents are mandated to remain in their normal residences except to purchase food and medicines, work or attend emergencies. This suppression of the
freedom of movement was later (in July 2021) declared unconstitutional under the State of Alarm by the
Constitutional Court of Spain in response to the appeal by
Vox (submitted in April 2020). Lockdown restrictions also mandated the temporary closure of non-essential shops and businesses, including bars, restaurants, cafes, cinemas and commercial and retail businesses, while also announcing that the government will be able to take over private healthcare providers, if needed. The announcement came following significant increases in the number of confirmed cases of
COVID-19 in Spain, increasing by 66% from 3,146 cases to 5,232 cases on 13 March 2020. The "extraordinary decision", according to the PM
Pedro Sánchez, is necessary as Spain deals with a "health, social and economic crisis". The first case in the autonomous city of
Ceuta was diagnosed. On 17 March, PM Pedro Sánchez announces a support package of more than 200 billion
euros, almost 20% of the
Spanish GDP, to cushion the impact of the coronavirus crisis. The Royal Decree approved by his government also includes a moratorium on the payment of mortgages for workers and self-employed in economic vulnerability and for those affected by COVID-19, as well as the streamlining of temporary dismissal files (known as ERTE), support for workers and companies affected by downturns, measures to guarantee the liquidity of companies and to promote research to achieve a vaccine. The first death in the province of Tarragona is confirmed in
Valls hospital, an 88-year-old woman from
Badalona. of Madrid on 22 March On 19 March, the first death of a healthcare worker in the country is reported, a nurse from the Basque Country. On 20 March, Spain exceeds 1,000 deaths. The first case is confirmed on the island of
El Hierro. On 21 March, the Ministry of Health announces the purchase of 640,000 rapid tests and reports that more than 350,000 tests for COVID-19 had been conducted. On 22 March, Spanish PM
Pedro Sánchez announces that he will take the petition to extend the
State of Alarm in the nation until 11 April to the
Congress after consultations with regional presidents. The President of the
Region of Murcia orders the cessation of all non-essential economic activities, a decision later revoked by the central government. On 23 March, the
Spanish Army found elderly people abandoned and dead inside retirement homes, according to Defence Minister
Margarita Robles. A criminal investigation is launched. The "Palacio del Hielo", an ice rink in Madrid, begins to be used as a morgue. By this date, 5,400 medical professionals are confirmed to have tested positive for coronavirus and sent home, further straining the hospitals, where a lack of protective equipment has put workers at risk.
Halting of all non-essential activity (28 March – 12 April) ,
Burgos, Castile and León|thumb|upright=0.6 On 28 March, the Spanish government banned all non-essential activity, providing affected workers with paid recoverable leave unless they provide an essential service, work remotely, are on sick leave, or have their contracts suspended. The next day, two cases of coronavirus were diagnosed on
Formentera, Balearic Islands, leaving the island of
La Graciosa (
Canary Islands) as the only territory with no cases detected. On 30 March,
Fernando Simón, the head of Spain's Centre for Health Emergencies and the public face of the government's response because of his daily briefings, tested positive for the virus and temporarily resigned. On 4April, Prime Minister
Pedro Sánchez asked the Congress of Deputies to extend the State of Alarm for another two weeks, until 26 April, a request that was granted on 9April. From 3 to 11 April, the number of new cases and deaths in general had a decreasing trend. On 3April, 950 deaths were reported, the highest number for a single country over a 24-hour interval, on the same day, estimates for the
basic reproduction number of the virus indicated a number below 1.0 for the first time, meaning that each case was, on average, infecting less than one other person. On 4, 5, and 6April, consecutive decreases in number of new cases and deaths were reported, including 637 new deaths on 6April, the lowest figure in ten days. On 10 April, the number of confirmed deaths dropped to 605, and then on 11 April to 510, the lowest figure in more than a month; the number of confirmed cases increased by only 3%, the lowest amount since the Ministry of Health began collecting data.
Lifting of some restrictions (13 April – 1 May) On 13 April, workers in some non-essential sectors, such as construction and industry, who cannot work remotely were allowed to return to work; the government began the distribution of millions of face masks in public transportation hubs. On 21 April, the government announced that from 26 or 27 April children under the age of 14 will be able to go out on short walks with their parents or other adults living in the same household. On 23 April, the state of alarm was extended until 9May, with further extensions envisioned.
De-escalation (2 May–July) On 28 April, the government announced a plan for easing lockdown restrictions. The plan has four phases, numbered 0through 3, and each of the phases1 through3 will last at least two weeks. The transition from one phase to the next will be based on public health indicators such as number of cases and capacity of the healthcare system. Phase0 allowed people out of their homes for short walks and individual sports from 2May Phase1 began on 11 May in 26 provinces and territories comprising about half of the Spanish population. It includes the opening of small shops, of terraces at 50% capacity, and of places of worship at one-third capacity. The plan was estimated to have a duration of eight weeks if there were no setbacks. Preliminary results from a large-scale
serologic study, made public on 13 May, suggested that about 5% of the population of Spain had developed antibodies for SARS-CoV-2. The percentage was higher than 11% in the provinces of
Soria (14.2),
Cuenca (13.5),
Segovia (12.6),
Albacete (11.6),
Madrid (11.3) and
Ciudad Real (11.1), but still substantially below the 60% suggested to be needed to achieve
herd immunity. On 4 June and 6 July, the results of the second and third wave of the nationwide seroprevalence study showed the percentage of population infected to have slightly increased, reaching 5.2%. According to this study based on sample of more than 63,000 people,
Madrid and several provinces of
Castilla–La Mancha and
Castile and León would be the most affected areas with a percentage of infection greater than 10%On 6 July 2020, the results of the third and last wave of a
Government of Spain nationwide seroprevalence study showed that about two million people, or 5.2% of the population, could have been infected during the pandemic, confirming the data from previous waves. , 47% of the territory of Spain was on phase2. , 48% of the country was on phase2 and 52% on phase3; the latter includes less stringent restrictions for the opening of shops, hotels, bars, entertainment and nightlife venues. , 75% of the Spanish population was on phase3 and several provinces entered the "new normality" phase. The state of alarm expired at midnight of Sunday 21 June, and Spain entered a "new normality" phase, in which restrictions such as maximum occupancy in shops are handled by each autonomous community independently. At the state level, the government maintained the obligation to wear masks in public transportation and all other places where a minimum distance of 1.5 metres cannot be maintained; the government also opened all internal borders among autonomous communities as well as the land border with France, and resumed international flights with other European Union countries and the United Kingdom.
Resurgence (17 July – October) On 17 July, in response to an increase in the number of cases in the Barcelona metropolitan area, the government of Catalonia forbade gatherings of more than 10 people in public or private spaces, and advised residents to stay at home unless strictly necessary. The government of Aragon issued a similar advisory notice to residents, in response to an increase in the number of cases in Zaragoza. The number of cases also increased again in July in other cities such as
Madrid. A number of restrictions were imposed, including closing nightclubs, banning smoking outdoors if social distancing was not possible, and compulsory wearing of face masks in public. The country recorded a series of high daily counts of infection since relaxing its restrictions in June 2020, with 3,715 cases reported on 19 August, giving it a cumulative figure of over 370,000 cases by that date. The country had the highest rate of infection in Europe, with 145 new cases per 100,000 population in the two weeks before 21 August 2020, compared to 51 in France and 21 in the UK. Aragon was the worst-hit region. Officials have blamed socialising by young people for the increase. The numbers of deaths and hospitalisations in August, however, remained relatively low compared to March and April, for example 122 died from COVID-19 on 20 August compared to 950 on 2 April. On 4 September, the country reported a new record of 10,476 new cases in a day. On 7 September 2020, the number of cases reported reached over half a million, the second country in Europe to reach this milestone after Russia. There were 525,549 infections in total, a third of them in Madrid, with 29,516 deaths reported.
State of emergency reimposed (1 October – 9 May) The government ordered a partial lockdown of Madrid on 1 October due to the rise in cases. On 21 October, Spain passed 1 million COVID-19 cases, the first country in Western Europe to do so. On 25 October, the government reimposed a
state of emergency across the country and introduced a national curfew to counter the resurgence in coronavirus. Local authorities were also given powers to ban travel across different regions. The curfew was initially set to last 15 days, but
Pedro Sánchez said that he would ask Parliament to extend it if necessary. On 23 November, the Spanish King
Felipe VI went into self-isolation after coming into contact with a patient who tested positive for COVID-19. On 27 December, the first vaccines started being administered to the Spanish population. On 3 May, Spain managed to achieve the government's objective of having at least 5 million people fully vaccinated for the first week of May, more than 10% of the total population. On 9 May, the State of emergency came to an end as Prime Minister Sánchez refused to prolong it any more, claiming that now it was the turn to trust "massive vaccination". == Government response ==