Spain's coronavirus death toll rose to a total of 10,935 from 10,003 on the previous day, the Health Ministry said today, but showed the first fall in a daily death toll since 26 March.
A total of 932 people died from the disease in 24 hours, down from 950 people in the previous daily toll, the figures showed.
The number of registered cases rose to 117,710 today up from 110,238 yesterday, the ministry said.
Hospitals in Catalonia are at "maximum stress", the regional leader Quim Torra has said.
Spain's second most populous region has the highest number of coronavirus patients in intensive care in the country - 2,053, according to the latest data - and has registered 2,335 fatalities, second only to the Madrid region.
"At the hospital level we are being able to give response to all the cases that are arriving but we are at the limit, we are at maximum stress," Mr Torra said in an interview. He added that the main issue was a shortage of equipment.
Mr Torra suggested that, given the coronavirus outbreak, the snap election he was due to call in the coming weeks will likely be held after the summer instead.
Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte extended his feud about coronavirus money with EU Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen in the pages of a newspaper.
"Dear Ursula," he wrote in a letter to La Repubblica, "I hear ideas (from you) not worthy of Europe. The decisions we make today will be remembered for years."
He called for "more ambition, more unity and more courage" from the EU, in response to a letter from Ms von der Leyen in the same paper yesterday where she had promised more support for Italy.
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Mr Conte wants the whole bloc to share the risk by issuing billions of euros in so-called coronabonds, helping Italy to borrow more cheaply to fight a pandemic that has killed nearly 14,000 people and shattered the country's economy.
Ms Von der Leyen has sided with Germany and some other northern European countries, who argue that pooled risk could raise their borrowing costs.
She prefers an EU-wide guarantee that could raise €100bn for the specific purpose of helping national unemployment schemes.
Mr Conte said he "welcomed" the EU's initiative but made it clear that he still wanted the coronabonds.
"When fighting a war, you must do everything possible to win and equip yourself with all the tools needed for the reconstruction," Mr Conte wrote.
This required "innovative tools such as the European Recovery Bonds".
Italy's three-week lockdown to stop the spread has been extended through until at least mid-April and its economy is expected to suffer its biggest peacetime shock since World War II.
Civil protection service chief Angelo Borrelli told RAI television today that Italians would probably "have to stay at home for many more weeks".
Mr Conte is preparing a new economic response package after pledging 25 billion euros in assistance to affected families and businesses last month.
The Netherlands announced a further 148 deaths linked to the coronavirus today, bringing the country's total to 1,487.
It also confirmed 1,026 new coronavirus cases, taking the overall tally of infections to 15,723, according to the daily report from The National Institute for Health.
