Madrid, Jun 11 (IANS): The Spanish Ministry of Health, Consumer Affairs and Social Welfare reported no new deaths from COVID-19 for a third straight day, while the number of new cases continued to edge up.

According to the ministry, a total of 27,136 people in Spain have died from COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus till Wednesday. The figure has remained unchanged since Sunday, Xinhua news agency reported.

The ministry also informed that 40 people lost their lives to the virus in the past seven days, with eight of Spain's 17 Autonomous Communities reporting no deaths in the period. The seven-day death toll is down from the 50 it reported on Tuesday.

Wednesday, however, continued to see a rise in the number of new cases detected by PCR tests, which discover if the coronavirus is active in the body. The ministry registered 167 new infections, compared with Tuesday's 84 and Monday's 48.

As of Wednesday, Spain has registered a total of 242,280 infections.