The number of new coronavirus cases in Spain surged to 56,188 from 47,610 cases, the health ministry announced on Thursday.

The number of fatalities has risen to 4,089 from 3,434 over past 24 hours in the country.

On Tuesday, NATO said that Spain's military had asked for international assistance in their response to the global pandemic of the coronavirus COVID-19.

Spain has been one of the worst-hit countries, logging the third highest number of deaths after China and Italy.

Since March 13, there have been registered cases in the 50 provinces of the country. Only on the islands of La Graciosa and Formentera has there been no registered positive cases.

The pandemic was 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.

On 24 February, following a COVID-19 outbreak in Italy, Spain confirmed multiple cases related to the Italian clusters, originating from a medical doctor from Lombardy, Italy, who was on holiday in Tenerife.

Afterwards, multiple COVID-19 cases were detected in Tenerife involving people who had come in contact with the doctor. Other cases involving individuals who visited Italy were also discovered in mainland Spain. (ILKHA)