A man wearing a face mask walks on a street in Madrid, Spain, Feb. 8, 2021. Spain reported 16,402 new cases of the novel coronavirus in a 24-hour period, bringing the country's tally since the start of the pandemic to 3,005,487, the Health Ministry said Tuesday. (Xinhua/Meng Dingbo)

MADRID, Feb. 9  -- Spain reported 16,402 new cases of the novel coronavirus in a 24-hour period, bringing the country's tally since the start of the pandemic to 3,005,487, the Health Ministry said Tuesday.

The ministry also reported 766 fatalities in the past 24 hours -- the highest number of deaths in a single day since April -- taking the total number of victims of the virus to 63,061.

Meanwhile, the incidence rate of the virus continues to fall, dropping from 667.33 cases per 100,000 inhabitants on Monday to 630 cases on Tuesday.

A total of 2,167,241 coronavirus vaccine doses have already been administered in Spain.

The regional health authorities have also started to use the 196,800 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine that arrived in the country over the weekend. For now, this vaccine will only be given to people in the 18 to 55 age group.

On Tuesday, the Spanish government confirmed that it was maintaining the ban on flights arriving from Brazil, South Africa and the United Kingdom until at least March 2 in a bid to stop the spread of the new coronavirus variants. Spain's border with Portugal will also remain closed until March 1.