Lucía Benavides

LLEIDA, Spain — The first thing you see when you get to the Montsec Astronomical Park is a big dark metal dome: the planetarium. Behind it are three smaller white domes, housing various telescopes. Farther up a bumpy road is the Montsec Observatory. All this space gadgetry seems out of place among the earthy mountain surroundings, but the area — which has some of the darkest skies in Catalonia — has been frequented by amateur astronomers for decades.

Children across Spain were able to leave their homes for the first time in six weeks on Sunday, as the government eased restrictions that have kept anyone under the age of 14 from venturing in public.

It's been over a month since the coronavirus pandemic forced the Spanish government to declare a state of emergency and put the country on lockdown.

People haven't been allowed to leave their homes except to buy food and medical supplies or walk the dog. Anyone who breaks these rules faces fines of more than $1,000.

But children aren't allowed out at all, even to accompany their parents to the grocery store. Almost all other European countries allow at least some outside time for kids.

Spain said early Friday that 117,710 people have tested positive for the new coronavirus in the country, briefly surpassing Italy's count to become the highest in Europe, until the Italian authorities announced a bigger case tally later in the day.

Spain's Health Ministry also reported 10,935 deaths from COVID-19. The country's daily death toll has gone over 800 for seven consecutive days, reaching a record 950 in 24 hours on Thursday.

Spain is one of the countries worst-hit by the new coronavirus pandemic. As its hospitals race to save patients' lives, many health workers themselves are catching COVID-19.

By last Friday, more than 9,400 medical personnel were infected, which was nearly 15% of all confirmed cases at the time. As of Tuesday, Spain registered over 94,400 cases — more than China's infections — and the world's second highest death toll at over 8,200.

The Spanish military has found older residents of some care homes "completely abandoned" and even "dead in their beds," Defense Minister Margarita Robles said in a television interview on Monda

Updated on Feb. 18 at 10 a.m.

Ahead of the Oscars, movie fans were reminded of a persistent diversity problem in the film industry's most anticipated awards event: Few nominees weren't white.

Although a South Korean movie, Parasite, went on to win four Academy Awards including best picture, only one person of color was nominated in the acting categories: Cynthia Erivo for her role as Harriet Tubman in the biopic Harriet.