‘War’ to buy medical supplies

MADRID - Spain extended its coronavirus lockdown on Thursday and said it was fighting a “real war” over medical supplies to contain the world’s second-highest virus death toll, turning to China for many critical products, where officials reported fraud and massive price increases.

A further 655 people died overnight, pushing Spain’s toll from the respiratory disease to 4089, second only to Italy and further beyond China where the outbreak began.

Elderly nursing home residents have been particularly hard hit. In Madrid, the region worst affected by the virus, authorities pledged to assess each residence and take urgent action as infections and deaths among their vulnerable population mounted.

“Old people have been abandoned in an astonishing way,” said

Carmen Flores, head of patients’ rights group Defensor del Paciente.

In Madrid, Spain’s capital and biggest city, located in the country’s worst-affected region, an ice rink has been converted into a morgue and 13-time Champions League winners Real Madrid said their Santiago Bernabeu stadium would be used to store medical supplies.

Coronavirus cases rose by 18 per cent to 56,188, a slower rate than in the past few days. Health emergency chief Fernando Simon said the start of mass testing would reveal more infections, even as Health Minister Salvador Illa cautiously told parliament the data “make us think we are starting a stabilisation phase”.