Spain seeks Nato help as infections soar
Madrid ice skate rink turned into a morgue
MADRID: Spain’s armed forces on Tuesday asked Nato for humanitarian assistance to fight the novel coronavirus as the national death toll touched 2,700 while the number of infections soared towards 40,000.
With the pandemic rapidly spreading across the world, Spain has been one of the worst-hit countries, logging the third-highest number of deaths with the latest toll standing at 2,696, after another 514 people died over the past 24 hours.
Despite an unprecedented lockdown imposed on March 14, both deaths and infections have continued to mount, with the Spanish army called in to join efforts to curb its spread.
With authorities stepping up testing, the number of people diagnosed with Covid-19 rose by nearly 20% to 39,673, the health ministry said.
Health authorities said it would soon become clear whether the lockdown was having the desired effect.
“This is a very hard week because we’re in the first stages of overcoming the virus, a phase in which we are approaching the peak of the epidemic,” Health Minister Salvador Illa told a televised news conference.
Like many other countries, Spain has been struggling with a lack of medical supplies for testing, treatment and the protection of frontline workers.
In a statement, Nato said Spain’s military had asked for “international assistance”, seeking medical supplies to help curb the spread of the virus both in the military and in the civilian population.
The request specified 450,000 respirators, 500,000 rapid testing kits, 500 ventilators and 1.5 million surgical masks.
The government has said it is working on plans to produce in Spain the equipment needed to battle coronavirus.
“We are starting to talk about a war industry, a war economy and it is essential,” Industry Minister Maria Reyes Maroto said.
With the numbers still spiralling, the government of Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on Tuesday sought parliamentary approval to extend the state of emergency for an extra two weeks, until April 11 — the day before Easter — in a bid to slow the spread of the virus.
“We are aware of just how hard it is to prolong this situation, but it is absolutely imperative that we keep fighting the virus in order to win this battle,” government spokeswoman Maria Jesus Montero said.
The surge in numbers has brought the medical system to the brink of collapse, with some 5,400 healthcare workers testing positive for the virus, around 12% of the total.
The Madrid region has suffered the brunt of the epidemic with 12,352 infections — just under a third of the total — and 1,535 deaths, or 57% of the national figure.
With the city’s funeral services overwhelmed, Madrid officials have commandeered the Palacio de Hielo ice skating rink to serve as a temporary morgue.
“We don’t have the logistical capacity to carry out all the burials and cremations at the rate at which people are dying,” Madrid’s mayor Jose Luis Martinez-Almeida said.