The virus was first confirmed to have spread to Spain on 31 January 2020, when a German tourist tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 in La Gomera, Canary Islands.[3] Post-hoc genetic analysis has shown that at least 15 strains of the virus had been imported, and community transmission began by mid-February.[7] By 13 March, cases had been confirmed in all 50 provinces of the country.
A partially unconstitutional lockdown was imposed on 14 March 2020.[8][9] On 29 March, it was announced that, beginning the following day, all non-essential workers were ordered to remain at home for the next 14 days.[10] By late March, the Community of Madrid has recorded the most cases and deaths in the country. Medical professionals and those who live in retirement homes have experienced especially high infection rates.[11] On 25 March, the official death toll in Spain surpassed that of mainland China.[12] On 2April, 950 people died of the virus in a 24-hour period—at the time, the most by any country in a single day.[13] On 17 May, the daily death toll announced by the Spanish government fell below 100 for the first time,[14] and 1 June was the first day without deaths by COVID-19.[15] The state of alarm ended on 21 June.[16] However, the number of cases increased again in July in a number of cities including Barcelona, Zaragoza and Madrid, which led to reimposition of some restrictions but no national lockdown.[17][18][19][20]
Studies have suggested that the number of infections and deaths may have been underestimated due to lack of testing and reporting, and many people with only mild or no symptoms were not tested.[21][22] Reports in May suggested that, based on a sample of more than 63,000 people, the number of infections may be ten times higher than the number of confirmed cases by that date, and Madrid and several provinces of Castilla–La Mancha and Castile and León were the most affected areas with a percentage of infection greater than 10%.[23][24] There may also be as many as 15,815 more deaths according to the Spanish Ministry of Health monitoring system on daily excess mortality (Sistema de Monitorización de la Mortalidad Diaria – MoMo).[25] On 6 July 2020, the results 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.[26][27] Spain was the second country in Europe (behind Russia) to record half a million cases.[28] On 21 October, Spain passed 1 million COVID-19 cases, with 1,005,295 infections and 34,366 deaths reported, a third of which occurred in Madrid.[29]
As of September 2021, Spain is one of the countries with the highest percentage of its population vaccinated (76% fully vaccinated and 79% with the first dose),[30] while also being one of the countries more in favor of vaccines against COVID-19 (nearly 94% of its population is already vaccinated or wants to be).[31]
As of 4 February 2023, a total of 112,304,453 vaccine doses have been administered.[32]
^"Q&A on coronaviruses (COVID-19)". World Health Organization. Retrieved 2020-03-24. The outbreak began in Wuhan, China, in December 2019.