10-day mourning period for nearly 27,000 dead with COVID-19 in Spain

The Spanish government on Tuesday declared a 10-day mourning period to pay tribute to nearly 27,000 confirmed deaths from the novel coronavirus.

Starting Wednesday until June 5, flags will be at half-mast in more than 14,000 public buildings across the nation as well as on the navy's vessels, the government announced.

King Felipe VI, as Spain's head of state, will preside over a solemn ceremony to honour the dead once the country emerges from its strict lockdown rules.

The victims were "men and women



whose lives have been suddenly cut short, leaving friends and family in great pain, both from the sudden loss and from the difficult circumstances in which it has occurred," the Spanish government's spokeswoman, Minister Maria Jesus Montero, said.

Opposition parties had criticised the left-wing coalition of Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez for not paying homage to the victims.

Health officials on Monday corrected the pandemic's official death toll, reducing 1,918 official deaths, saying some unconfirmed deaths had been erroneously counted.