The death toll in Spain soared to more than 4,800 today after 769 people died in 24 hours, in a record one-day figure for fatalities, the government said.
Health ministry figures showed the number of deaths reaching 4,858, while cases jumped to 64,059, although the rate of new infections appeared to be slowing, registering a 14 percent increase compared with 18 percent a day earlier.
The death toll on Thursday was 655, while on Wednesday – the previous record – there were 738 deaths. Spain is the second worst-affected country by coronavirus, having surpassed China’s death toll of 3,291 on Wednesday and now lags only behind Italy.
Meanwhile harrowing images from a hospital in Albacete, 85 miles west of Valencia, have showed patients lining the corridors of a hospital waiting to be treated.
Municipal workers wearing protective gear carry the coffin of a victim of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) at El Salvador cemetery in Vitoria, Spain on Friday
The Spanish Air Force setting up an intensive care unit at the field hospital for coronavirus patients, enabled at Ifema Fair site in Madrid, Spain, on Friday
Members of the medical staff of the Summa, Medical Emergency Service of Madrid, transfers a patient in a wheelchair to the Emergency Department at the 12 de Octubre hospital in Madrid
One nurse at a Madrid hospital said health provision was ‘collapsing’ with nearly 6,500 medical workers infected themselves.
The clip was recorded in the Hospital of Albacete in the central Spanish region of Castilla La Mancha where 88 patients were hospitalised on Tuesday.
In the video, patients in gurneys can be seen lining the corridors of the hospital, with others sitting on chairs.
The woman recording can be heard saying ‘people are lying on the ground because they said they were exhausted’.
She says that she was sharing the images as a call for the authorities to react to the situation as the patients cannot make their voice heard.
She says the hospital is a bottleneck for the local health centres, adding that more beds are needed for the huge number of patients being admitted.
The health worker complains that there is not enough protective equipment ‘so we keep putting our health and our loved ones at risk’.
Healthcare workers dealing with the new coronavirus crisis in Spain, hug each other as they are cheered on by people outside La Fe hospital in Valencia last night
Video taken at Albacete hospital, 85 miles west of Valencia, showed patients lining corridors after they ran out of beds and people laying on the floor from exhaustion
Ambulance workers in full protective gear arrive with a patient at the Severo Ochoa Hospital during Spain’s coronavirus outbreak
Health workers are being sent into Spanish nursing homes to disinfect them, after the military said it found some residents had been abandoned by staff
A Spanish soldier walks next to beds set up at a temporary hospital for vulnerable and homeless people in Barcelona
The Integrate Attention Management of Albacete, which belongs to the Health Service of the regional government of Castilla La Mancha said the increase in the number of patients in the hospital had put a lot of pressure on the emergency services.
Reports state new measures were implemented on Tuesday after the video was shared with one floor of the hospital previously dedicated to other patients now being used for those coming from the emergency room.
Another ward from the nearby Perpetuo Socorro Hospital is also available for use.
Local media report that health centres in Albacete are changing and adapting their facilities in order to attend to coronavirus patients.
On Wednesday, the number of medical personnel infected was nearly 6,500 nationally, health authorities said, representing 13.6 per cent of the country’s total cases and about one per cent of the health system’s workforce. At least three health care workers have died.
‘We are collapsing. We need more workers,’ said Lidia Perera, a nurse who works at Madrid’s Hospital de la Paz, which has 1,000 beds.
Patricia Nunez, a 32-year-old nurse at the same hospital, is among those who have been infected.
Health ministry figures showed the number of deaths reaching 4,858, while cases jumped to 64,059, although the rate of new infections appeared to be slowing, registering a 14 percent increase compared with 18 percent a day earlier (pictured, a policeman is tested for the virus in Madrid)
Spain is now the second-worst affected country in the world with coronavirus behind only Italy, after overtaking China’s death toll on Wednesday
Medical wokers hug eachother outside the emergency rooms at Severo Ochoa Hospital
‘The worst thing is that you need to stay at home, worried about infecting relatives, while knowing that you are dearly needed at work,’ she said.
Despite a national lockdown imposed on March 14, which parliament on Thursday agreed to extend until April 11, both deaths and infections have continued to mount, with officials warning this week would be particularly bad.
Health authorities are hoping it will soon become clear whether the lockdown is having the desired effect.
The Madrid region has suffered the brunt of the epidemic with 17,166 infections – just under a third of the total – and 2,090 deaths, or 51 percent of the national figure.
Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, whose wife is infected with the virus, has said this is the country’s most difficult moment since its 1936-39 civil war.
Members of the military suit up as the prepare to disinfect a nursing home of coronavirus
‘Only the oldest, who knew the hardships of the civil war and its aftermath, can remember collective situations that were harsher than the current one.
‘The other generations in Spain have never, ever had to face as a collective something so hard,’ he said when he imposed the state of emergency on March 14.
Spain’s demographics partly explain why it has been one of the worst-affected nations.
The country has one of the longest life expectancies in Europe and the pandemic has taken a high toll on its large elderly population, who are especially vulnerable to the disease.
Even Queen Letizia has been forced to go into lockdown after coming into contact with a minister who has since tested positive for coronavirus.
Spain’s Queen Letizia has been self-isolating and only taking visits from a nurse despite testing negative for coronavirus after meeting an infected politician
King Felipe VI of Spain giving a speech during his visit to a field hospital in Madrid, which has seen the bulk of Spain’s cases
King Felipe listens to health workers as he visits a hospital in Madrid for coronavirus patients
Royal chronicler Pilar Eyre wrote in her blog for the magazine ‘Lecturas’ that, despite testing negative for the virus, Letizia has been separated from the rest of the royal household and is only receiving visits from nurses
The move is a precaution after she met Equality Minister Irene Montero on March 6.
‘Doctor Manuel Martinez Perez forced Letizia to go into lockdown and wear a mask and glove, eating from a tray and only receiving visits from a nurse,’ Eyre wrote.
Eyre also revealed that the queen had put pressure on King Felipe VI as she thought he should address citizens to show sympathy.
King Felipe VI addressed Spanish citizens in a public speech on 18th March.