'Terrible situation': Spain first European nation to top 1 million COVID-19 cases

FILE PHOTO: An ambulance worker wearing a full personal protective equipment (PPE) is disinfected by a collage outside the emergency unit of Severo Ochoa hospital amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Leganes, outside Madrid, Spain, October 16, 2020. REUTERS/Sergio Perez

MADRID (Reuters) - Spain became the first Western European country to exceed 1 million COVID-19 infections on Wednesday, doubling its tally in just six weeks despite a series of increasingly stringent measures to control the second wave of the virus.

Health ministry data showed total cases had reached 1,005,295, rising by 16,973 from the previous day. The death toll increased by 156 to 34,366.