A handout picture released by the Madrid City Hall shows a health worker gesturing at a municipal police officer during tests for the COVID-19 coronavirus in Madrid on March 25, 2020. (Photo: AFP)

The coronavirus death toll in Spain surged to 4,089 after 655 people died within 24 hours, the health ministry said on Thursday.

It was a 19 percent increase on figures released on Wednesday. The number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 rose to 56,188 in Spain, which has the world's second highest death toll from the disease after Italy.