UK confirms 12 more COVID-19 cases, Spain confirms 71

Britain has confirmed 12 new cases of COVID-19 on Sunday, bringing the country's total number of infections to 35, according to British health authorities.

Among these cases, three were believed to have contracted the novel coronavirus in Britain related to a known case, while another six had recently travelled back from Italy and two from Iran respectively, Chief Medical Officer for England Chris Whitty said in a statement.

The remaining patient, resident in Essex in the southeast of England, had no relevant travel and it is not yet clear how the patient contracted the virus, said Whitty.

Britain's confirmed cases have been on the rise in the past few days. Health Secretary Matt Hancock told Sky News that he could not rule out banning big events where thousands of people would gather, if the situation gets worse.

Meanwhile, the number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Spain rose to 71 on Sunday, according to the Spanish Ministry of Health, Consumer Affairs and Social Services.

Recent hours have seen four new cases confirmed in the region of Madrid, three in the northeast Catalan region and the northern region of Castilla-Leon. Southwest Spain's Extremadura and Castilla-La Mancha, south of Madrid, also reported their first cases.

The cases in Extremadura and Castilla-La Mancha mean that Covid-19 has been detected in 13 of Spain's 17 autonomous communities.

The region of Valencia has 15 confirmed cases, all of which can be linked to people who had recently travelled to Italy. Among the 14 cases in Madrid, seven can also be linked to people who recently visited Italy, while the rest seven cases are around the town of Torrejon de Ardoz, where authorities are still investigating the focal point of the outbreak.

Speaking to the press, Fernando Simon, the Director of the Coordination Center for Health Alerts at the Spanish Ministry of Health said that "for the moment," the Spanish government was not considering cancellation of public events "in a generalized manner," but added there were some "particular" events "we have to be very careful with."