Madrid, April 3 (RHC)-- Spain now has more confirmed cases of COVID-19 than Italy, with the number of infections soaring to over 117,000 on Friday – an increase of around 7,000 from the previous day.

The death toll from the virus in Spain also surged to 10,935 in the last 24 hours, according to the country's health ministry.  While the numbers are grim, the ministry said it also marked the first fall in the daily death toll since March 26th.

With almost 14,000 fatalities, Italy is still the country with the highest number of deaths, but it now appears Spain could reach similar figures within days.  Spain's government imposed a national quarantine on March 15 as the virus spread rapidly.

Confirmed cases worldwide topped one million on Thursday, with deaths surpassing 53,000 globally.