'Bad numbers:' Spain's coronavirus cases continue to rise

The rise in coronavirus cases continue to worry health authorities in Spain.

Fernando Simón, the head of the country's health emergency coordination said Thursday that although numbers are stabilising, they were still "bad numbers".

Earlier this week, authorities said they aimed to bring cases down to 25 per 100,000. However, the average currently stands at 458 cases per 100,000.

Simón also added in the last week 790 people who had tested positive for the virus had died.

Additionally Spain reported 23,580 new confirmed infections while health authorities tighten restrictions to stop the spread of the coronavirus.

Spain's health ministry said Thursday that 9,395 cases had been diagnosed in the past 24 hours. The remainder of the new batch of reported cases were diagnosed in recent days but not reported to central authorities until now.

Spain's caseload since the pandemic began has reached over 1.1 million, second only in Europe to France, with over 35,000 deaths.

Over 25% of Spain's intensive care units are occupied by patients fighting the virus.

Spain's Parliament on Wednesday endorsed an extension of the state of emergency declared by the government until May 9.

The measure puts into place a nightly curfew and allows regions to impose more restrictions like the ones the Catalonia announced, limiting movement outside city limits on weekends.