A doctor in Spain has told Euronews how his hospital is now split in two – one side for COVID-19 patients, and one for patients with other issues.
Dr Didac Mauricio, a General Director Representative at the Hospital de San Pau in Barcelona, explained the two sides were being kept separate in order to reduce the risk of coronavirus spreading among staff and patients, as the country battles on after another 864 people died in the latest 24 hour period there.
He explained that his almost 600-bed hospital is now “almost devoted to COVID patients, and that includes today around 450 COVID patients in the hospital, and almost 90 patients admitted to critical care units.”
Healthcare workers fighting on the front lines to save lives are at risk of infection themselves, while patients with other illnesses are being moved to other wards and hospitals as the country continues to count the cost of coronavirus.
Spain is the hardest hit country in the world after Italy, with more than 9,000 now confirmed dead from the disease, and more than 100,000 infected.
Spain has been among the European nations to receive emergency aid from countries around the world as it tries to cope with the sheer number of new daily cases.
On Tuesday the UN’s Secretary General Antonio Guterres said the world faced a global crisis on a scale not seen since the organisation’s creation after the Second World War.
