MADRID, March 30 (Xinhua) -- Spain's Health Minister Salvador Illa said in a televised press conference on Monday that the spread of the coronavirus is slowing down in his country.

Illa spoke after his ministry had confirmed that there are now 85,195 confirmed coronavirus cases in Spain and that the number of fatalities has risen to 7,340.

However, the past two days have seen a fall in the number of new cases: 8,189 new cases were registered on Saturday, 6,549 on Sunday and 6,398 on Monday. This slowdown roughly coincides with the first two weeks of the lockdown ordered by the Spanish government on March 14.

Illa insisted that the numbers should be cited with "a great deal of precaution," and added that "if we have not yet reached the peak of the infections then we are very close to it."

The minister said the pandemic was "slowing down" in Spain and that March 25 was the day when declining trend had started.

He justified the decree approved by the government of Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on Sunday night to stop all "non-essential" work from this Monday until March in an attempt to slow the spread of the disease.

"We believe that we had to take this important measure this weekend, considering that the Easter holidays are an important break in the calendar and to try and maintain a sustained period without the movement of people."

"It's true that it is a robust and exceptional measure, which added to the 'state of alarm,' but it is necessary -- if it wasn't we wouldn't have taken it," insisted Illa.

The minister explained that the government had delivered 10 million face masks to health workers along with "a significant quantity" of other materials, adding that another aircraft carrying a million and a half facemasks and "a large number" of test kits to detect the COVID-19 virus was to arrive later on Monday.

At the same press conference, Spanish Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska said that there "was no problem with food supplies, so nobody needs to hoard. We have enough people to meet the requirements."

The Spanish parliament had approved Sanchez's request to extend the State of Alarm to April 12 from the original March 14.

A State of Alarm is the first of three emergency levels which a Spanish government can apply under exceptional circumstances, with the others being "State of Exception" and "Martial Law".

A State of Alarm grants the government special powers to limit the movement of citizens, control the means of production and use private assets, and use the military to carry out essential logistical and supply jobs if needed. Enditem

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