Workers in Spain ’ s construction and manufacturing sectors cautiously returned to work Monday as the daily death toll resumed its downward trend and new infections fell to the lowest level in three weeks .
Spain is one of the worst- hit countries in the world, and saw the daily death rate fall for three consecutive days last week , only to rise again on Sunday .
But on Monday it fell again , with 517 deaths in 24 hours, putting the overall death toll at 17 , 489 with the number of cases now standing at 169 , 496 .
Confirmed cases also rose by 3 , 477 — the lowest daily figure since March 20 — as Spain began reopening parts of its economy after a two – week “ economic hibernation ” period .
Although health chiefs say the outbreak in Spain has peaked , they have urged the population to keep observing a strict national lockdown imposed on March 14 to slow the spread of the virus .
The restrictions were further tightened on March 30 when all non -essential activities were frozen for two weeks — largely targeting the construction and manufacturing sectors .
But those restrictions were lifted on Monday , and train stations were staffed with police and Red Cross volunteers handing out face masks for those returning to work.
At Madrid ’ s Atocha station , commuters took the masks from officers at arm’ s length to avoid getting too close .
“ It’ s amazing that the government is doing this because either you can ’ t find them in shops or they’ re very expensive, ” said nurse Brenda Palacios , who took two of them.
“ I have one at work but I can ’ t take it home with me so I leave it there. ”
Masks have been hard to come by in recent weeks and some commuters said the handouts put them at ease during their trips to work.
“ It’ s wonderful because it’ s so necessary and it helps those of us who have to use public transport , ” said office worker Jose Antonio Cruces.
“ Most people (on public transport ) don ’ t have masks or gloves. ”
Although public transport in much of Spain has been largely empty in recent weeks , the few commuters using it often do not have protective gear .
“ I work in health care and we have them but very few of them, so I didn ’ t have one to travel to and from work, ” said Maria Martinez .
For commuters , having a mask was essential as “ we don ’ t know who ’ s infected or if we ourselves are asymptomatic, ” she said .
