Spain is Europe's latest coronavirus hot spot, and cases are spreading faster than in the US

• In the past week, Spain recorded more than 53,000 new COVID-19 cases.
• Adjusted for population, the virus spread quicker during that period than in the US and more than twice as fast as in France.
• Spain imposed a strict lockdown until late June, but it has had a more relaxed approach since.
• An epidemiologist in Barcelona told The New York Times: "Perhaps Spain is the canary in the coal mine. Many countries may follow us."

Spain recorded more than 53,000 new COVID-19 cases in the past week, per The New York Times.

Adjusted for population, that figure means the virus is spreading there faster than in the US and at more than twice the rate of neighboring France.

Antoni Trilla, an epidemiologist at the Barcelona Institute for Global Health, told The Times that Spain's latest spike might be a glimpse of Europe's future.

"Perhaps Spain is the canary in the coal mine," he said. "Many countries may follow us — but hopefully not at the same speed or with the same number of cases that we are facing."

COVID-19 cases are also rising in Italy, Belgium, Greece, and Germany as well as in Eastern Europe.

Since Spain eased its strict lockdown in late June, loose restrictions for family gatherings, street parties, and night clubs have been blamed for the coronavirus resurgence, according to The Times.

It also cited factors like tourism and inadequate housing for migrants.

As of Monday, Spain had the ninth-most known cases in the world, with a cumulative 462,858 recorded COVID-19 infections and 29,094 deaths, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

The infection rate in Madrid is double that of the rest of the country, according to Anadolu Agency. Officials there have started using hotel rooms to house patients with mild symptoms, it said.

The virus' resurgence so far appears to be less deadly than when the pandemic first hit Europe earlier in the year. Spain's fatality rate — the percentage of known cases that have ended in death — is now about 6.6%, almost half that of its peak in May of 12%.

Those getting COVID-19 also appear to be much younger — the median age of the infected is now 37, when it was previously 60.

On Monday night, speaking on Catalonian TV, Spanish Health Minister Salvador Illa said the latest spike was not comparable to the first peak, where at one point Spain's daily deaths reached 900 a day, Reuters reported.

"Of course we are worried because we have to stabilize and bring down the infection chain," he said.

Illa said it was unlikely that another state of emergency would be imposed or that schools would close.

He said the main aim was to avoid putting pressure on hospitals.

Dr. María del Mar Vázquez, the medical director of a hospital in Málaga, told The Times that hospitals were in a better position than last time.

She said workers now had experience with COVID-19, protocols were in place, and healthcare workers had better equipment.

"The hospitals will be full — but we are ready," she said.