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MADRID, March 29 (Xinhua) -- Spain saw the highest single-day fatalities from COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, with 838 deaths recorded in the past 24 hours, showed the daily figures published by the Ministry of Health, Consumer Affairs and Social Services on Sunday.

The death toll between Saturday and Sunday is six more than the previous tally between Friday and Saturday, bringing the total death tally to 6,528 since the first death in the country was confirmed on March 3.

Meanwhile, the country detected 6,549 new COVID-19 patients, pushing the total number of confirmed cases to 78,797.

This is lower than the 8,189 new cases reported on Saturday and the 7,871 on Friday, while the 9.02 percent increase in cases on a day-to-day basis is the lowest percentage increase seen in Spain during the crisis.

Of the 78,797 confirmed cases, 43,397 required hospital treatment with 4,907 needing time in an intensive care unit.

So far, 14,709 patients have recovered from the disease, according to the Health Ministry.

Madrid continues to be the worst affected part of Spain as the virus has claimed 3,082 victims (47 percent of all deaths in Spain) and infected 22,677 in total.

Spain is on Sunday entering the third week of the State of Alarm decreed by the Spanish government on March 14.

A State of Alarm is the first of the three emergency levels a Spanish government can apply under exceptional circumstances, with the others being "A State of Exception" and "Martial Law" (Estado de Sitio). A State of Alarm grants the government special powers to limit the movement of citizens, to control the means of production and use private assets if needed and also to use the military to carry out essential logistical and supply jobs.