Bodies found in abandoned Spanish care homes
FEARS were growing in Spain last night over the number of elderly dying of coronavirus after military units sent in to care homes to offer emergency aid found an unspecified number of bodies.
According to Spain’s defence ministry, the military teams found that most of the staff in several privately run centres had stopped going to work after residents began to fall ill with Covid-19, leaving the sick and dying unattended.
Margarita Robles, the defence minister, said that “the full force of the law will be brought against those who do not fulfil their obligations”.
Twenty-five old people died at one residence in Madrid, mostly without being transferred to hospital, while dozens more pensioners have perished in other privately run centres that have been overwhelmed by the pandemic.
Spain’s government has used its emergency powers to place private residences under the control of regional authorities.
The elderly are bearing the brunt of the epidemic in Spain, with 67 per cent of deaths from the virus involving patients over 80.
Meanwhile, health workers begged the government for more assistance after a video emerged of patients lying on the floor of a hospital in Madrid.
Staff demanded more protective equipment and extra resources to fight coronavirus after the death toll rose by 457 yesterday, the highest jump to date, reaching a total of 2,182.
Patients lay on towels or coats in the corridor of the Infanta Leonor hospital as they waited for treatment, footage posted on social media showed.
The hospital was overwhelmed by hundreds of patients over the weekend, sources at the Madrid regional health authority confirmed to The Daily Telegraph, with ambulances at one point being blocked from entering.
A regional government spokesman admitted there had been a “particular moment of crisis”, but said the excess demand was met by other centres.
However, health workers argued the system was close to general collapse with staff worked to exhaustion and an increasing number becoming infected.
“We are falling ill, we are exhausted. If this situation continues much longer, it will become unmanageable,” said Jesús García Ramos, a spokesman for the SATSE nurses’ union. “If Madrid’s health system is working, it is only because of the organisation and solidarity of staff. The WHO says test, test, test, but no one is testing health workers.”
Spain’s health ministry said 12 per cent of the positive cases in the country were among health workers.