Twenty-four hours before Saturday, March 7th, hundreds of thousands of people gathered across Spain to celebrate International Women's Day, and 9,000 supporters of Spain's right-wing Fox party arrived in Madrid, where authorities in the northern region of La Rioja made some difficult decisions.
On that weekend, about three weeks ago, Spain confirmed only 430 cases of novel coronavirus, and after 60 of them were tracked at a funeral in the Basque Country, the Regional Government of La Rioja ordered full quarantine on a neighbourhood in the small town of Harrow.
After 18 days, Spain confirmed the number of infections to more than 47,000, while the number of victims rose to 3,434 more deaths than China, but today the number of infections reached more than 73 thousand, and the victims to about 6,000.
According to the Guardian, health workers, who account for about 14 percent of the country's coronavirus victims, complain of a lack of basic protection equipment, Madrid's ice rink has been transformed into a temporary morgue, and Madrid's main conference centre has been transformed from hosting the climate conference. global to house patients where they are redirected to a huge field hospital.
For those 18 days, life continued as usual, with tables and chairs as usual scattered on sidewalks and outside bars and cafés, and the gardens were full of people as the winter cold subsided.
Lack of equipment
In addition, many Spaniards attribute the causes of the outbreak of the virus and the increased number of victims to the lack of capabilities, especially face masks, examination equipment and auxiliary breathing devices, as well as a lack of home care.
The Spanish federations concerned say they have warned from the outset of these deficiencies, which has exacerbated the health situation in the country.
However, the head of the Ambulance Service Coordination Center in Spain believes that the epidemic has reached its climax or stage they were afraid of.
It is also believed that a large proportion of previous deaths during the epidemic period were not recorded as related to the Corona virus because the causes of death have not been examined, and for this reason the Carlos III Health Institute believes that the figures mentioned about the numbers of deaths are not accurate and less than reality, and that the declared figures do not represent only part of the truth and it is much higher.
Meanwhile, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez warned that the future of the European Union will be at stake if the regional system failed to take a unified stance to deal with the outbreak of the new Corona virus, which had caused severe damage to some countries of the Union, such as Italy.
Sanchez called on European countries to implement a new plan aimed at reducing the burden on the countries most affected, and easing the blow due to the decline in economic activities, in Europe in particular and the world in general.
It is worth noting that the novel coronavirus dealt a severe blow to Italy and Spain, specifically, in terms of the number of deaths, as Italy recorded the largest number of deaths in the world as a result of Covid-19, reached more than 10 thousand victims, while the number of deaths increased in Spain to about 6 thousand cases, and the two European countries surpassed China in terms of total deaths.
On Saturday, in Spain, 832 new deaths from the coronavirus were announced, the highest increase in deaths recorded in one day, while the number of confirmed cases increased to more than 73 thousand, with more than 8 thousand new infections recorded.
This means that Spain is approaching or almost at the height of the epidemic, as death bleeding continues, with the country setting a record and ranking second in the world in terms of numbers of deaths due to the novel coronavirus.
Spain's population of about 46 million is subject to general isolation measures that have been extended until April 11.
