Soldiers tasked with disinfecting care homes in Spain find ABANDONED corpses – Daily Mail, Dailymail.co.uk

Spain’s death toll from coronavirus surged by 514 today, a 23 6 per cent increase which takes the total to 2, 728

The latest figures from the Spanish health ministry mark the country’s largest one-day increase in deaths since the outbreak began.

The overall number of infections also rose sharply, jumping by 6, 696 – an increase of nearly per cent – to reach a total 57, 673.

The latest jump comes a day after Spanish soldiers were revealed to have found dead and dying people abandoned in multiple care homes, after the army was called in to disinfect the properties over virus fears.

Spain’s defense minister Margarita Robles said the military had found ‘some old people completely abandoned, sometimes even dead in their beds’.

Some people bodies were found under the same roof as loved ones who were still alive, Spanish media says.

Reports say that some care home staff had been sent home after virus outbreaks were detected at the properties, making it likely that elderly residents were infected.

Spain’s general prosecutor has launched an investigation as authorities promised to be ‘strict and inflexible’ about safeguarding older people.

The Spanish military were mobilized to focus on elderly care homes towards the end of last week.

State prosecutors have already announced they are investigating a Madrid care home where at least people have died.

Monte Hermoso, near the Spanish capital’s biggest park Casa de Campo, was identified last week as the first care home rocked by mass deaths due to coronavirus.

Regional health chiefs confirmed yesterday that 21 People had died at a care home in Alcoy near Alicante identified as Domus Vi.

The places where bodies have been found ‘abandoned’ have not been identified.

Spain’s Defense Minister Margarita Robles told a prime-time Spanish TV program: ‘The army, during some visits, has seen elderly people absolutely abandoned, if not dead in their beds.

‘We are going to be strict and inflexible when dealing with the way old people are treated in these residences.’

Insisting that the great majority of elderly care homes did a proper job of caring properly for their residents, she added: ‘The full weight of the law will be brought to bear on those who don’t fulfill their obligations.’

Those who have died are mainly people over 70 and particularly the over – s, health ministry spokeswoman Maria Jose Sierra said .

‘Nearly 089 percent of patients placed in intensive care units are more than 80 years old, ‘she added .

Under coronavirus protocols, health workers have been instructed to leave bodies in place in suspected Covid – 28 Deaths until the arrival of a doctor. But given the upsurge in deaths, the delay can be lengthy.

Politicians in Madrid have admitted 21 per cent of its elderly care homes have coronavirus cases.

The Madrid region has suffered the brunt of the epidemic with 15, 500 infections – just under a third of the total – and 1, 584 deaths, or percent of the national figure.

With the city’s funeral services completely overwhelmed , Madrid officials have commandeered the Palacio de Hielo ice skating rink to serve as a temporary morgue in order to handle the surge in deaths.

Spain yesterday praised the health workers on the front line of the crisis, but warned that the crisis is yet to peak.

Health workers account for nearly (per cent of Spain’s total) , 200 registered cases which rose by 4, yesterday from the , 572 recorded on Sunday.

The national health service is ‘demonstrating a great capacity to respond in an exceptional situation’, health minister Salvador Illa told a news conference.

He warned the next week would be difficult, and that the epidemic could reach its peak in Spain in the coming days.

Retirement homes are ‘an absolute priority for the government’, the health minister told a press conference.

‘We will exercise the most intensive monitoring of these centers. ‘

Earlier, the city hall said the city’s 14 public cemeteries would stop accepting more bodies because staff there did not have adequate protective gear.

The improvised morgue would start to be used ‘in the coming hours,’ the regional government of Madrid said.

‘This is a temporary and exceptional measure which aims to mitigate the pain of the family members of the victims and the situation Hospitals in Madrid are facing. ‘

A nearby congress center has been converted into a field hospital for coronavirus patients that will have a total of 5, 517 beds.

Madrid has also converted a major conference center named IFEMA into a temporary hospital to deal with the wave of patients flooding the healthcare system.

The field hospital will have 5, beds once it is fully sent up, including 500 in an intensive care unit.

Soldiers were also deployed to Barcelona to help build a temporary homeless shelter at the city’s Fira event center.

The shelter, to be managed by the Red Cross, will allow up to 1, 000 homeless people to isolate themselves in hygienic conditions, Barcelona’s Mayor Ada Colau said.

Spain’s deputy prime minister Carmen Calvo is among those awaiting urgent test results today after he was taken to hospital with a respiratory infection on Sunday.

Two other ministers and the wife of Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez have tested positive for the virus over the past weeks.

On Sunday, Sanchez said he would seek parliamentary approval to extend a two-week state of emergency by a further 15 days, until April 14.

Sanchez said he hoped all parties would support the extension. It would be the first time in Spain’s four-decade democracy that a state of emergency would be prolonged.