(Bloomberg) --

Spain reported 1,095 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, the biggest increase in nearly a week, as the country goes through the first phase of a plan to relax its lockdown after eight weeks of confinement.

The total number of cases, adjusted to include changes in data for the Madrid region, rose to 222,857, according to Health Ministry data. Fatalities rose by 229 to 26,299. That compares with an increase of 213 on Thursday.

The government on Friday is set to approve a new extension of the national state of emergency through May 23, after parliament authorized it on Wednesday. Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has said that enhanced powers are needed to coordinate the country’s health services -- under normal circumstances 17 regional governments run health care separately.

The country may be facing a patchy return to what Sanchez has dubbed the “new normal,” as regions still must individually seek authorization for their provinces to move to the next phase in gradually easing confinement measures.

While regions such as the Balearic and Canary Islands reported fewer than 10 new daily infections in recent days and are pushing to relax restrictions in time to start the summer tourist season, Madrid and Catalonia, the country’s economic heartland, are still grappling with hundreds of new cases a day.

Spain has the second-most extensive outbreak in the world, behind the U.S. and ahead of Italy, the original epicenter of the virus in Europe.

©2020 Bloomberg L.P.