People wearing face masks are seen at Columbus Plaza in Mardrid, Spain, on Oct. 21, 2020. The number of COVID-19 cases in Spain since the start of the pandemic surpassed one million after the country's Ministry of Health confirmed 16,973 new cases on Wednesday to take the total to 1,005,295. (Xinhua/Meng Dingbo)

MADRID, Oct. 21  -- The number of COVID-19 cases in Spain since the start of the pandemic surpassed one million after the country's Ministry of Health confirmed 16,973 new cases on Wednesday to take the total to 1,005,295.

The Health Ministry also confirmed 156 deaths on Wednesday to lift the total COVID-19 fatalities to 34,366.

Spain is among the six countries in the world with COVID-19 cases topping a million, and is the first country in the European Union to surpass the million-mark.