Spain's COVID-19 death toll rises by over 500; hospitals under pressure

MADRID — Spain's death toll from COVID-19 rose by 513 on Friday to 58,319, in one of the highest one-day increases since the first wave of the pandemic, health ministry data showed.

It said 38,118 new infections had also been detected, off last week's record of 44,357.

And pressure on hospitals continued to rise, with 44% of all intensive care beds occupied by COVID-19 patients.

In another alarming sign, the Madrid region reported on Friday an outbreak in a nursing home that has caused 11 deaths and infected all its 48 residents, as well as 17 staff.

El Pais newspaper said the home, in the mountains near the capital, had escaped the deadly first wave that tore through care homes across Spain in March and April last year.

Meanwhile, doctors complained about recent delays in vaccine deliveries that forced several regions, including Madrid, to stop vaccinating new people from priority groups, such as medics, and only administer second shots to those who have already received a first dose.

"The inability...to deliver the necessary doses at the required speed has been a crushing blow, at least for health workers," said Javier Marco, medical director of Madrid's Isabel Zendal hospital, adding they again felt unprotected and "at the mercy of the pandemic for an unknown length of time".

European countries are grappling with broad vaccine delays, at least temporarily, as all Western vaccine makers with approved shots - Moderna, Pfizer and its German partner BioNtech, and AstraZeneca - fall behind their initial delivery targets.

"We have been under tremendous pressure since March, with very bad living conditions, fearing that we might infect our families at any moment," Marco said. "What keeps us going is the need society has for us."

-reuters-

Why has Spain been hit so hard by the coronavirus pandemic?

In Spain, one of the hardest-hit countries in the pandemic, the coronavirus spread quickly and widely without being detected, especially among the elderly, experts told AFP.

While they stressed it was too early to carry out a detailed analysis, the experts pointed to the country's sociable lifestyle and close ties between young and older family members as significant factors in the virus's spread.

LOW MORTALITY, HIGH SPREAD

While Spain has the world's highest coronavirus death toll per capita after Belgium, its mortality rate -- the percentage of infected patients who die -- stands at 10.4 percent, below other hard-hit nations like Italy, France and Britain.

"The problem here is the size of the epidemic, the great quantity of infections which we had at the epidemic peak," said Fernando Rodriguez, a public health professor at Madrid's Autonomous University.

Only the United States has more confirmed COVID-19 cases than Spain, although national variations depend greatly on the number of tests that are carried out.

A study carried out by the Polytechnic University of Catalonia estimated that more than two million of Spain's 47 million people are infected.

LATE DETECTION

The virus "circulated under the radar a lot" before the government ordered a near total nationwide lockdown on March 14, said the head of epidemiology at Barcelona's Hospital Clinic, Antoni Trilla.

Unusually warm weather helped spread the virus.

"The weather was fantastic during the last weeks of February and the first week of March and people were out on the streets, very close to one another," said Rodriguez.

This sped up the spread of the virus and "in very little time there was community transmission," he added.

KISSES AND HUGS

Lifestyle could also have played a role in a country where people spend a lot of time outside in groups eating out, having drinks, attending religious processions, protesting or just going for a walk.

In Spain, as in Italy, "people hug and touch each other a lot, here people are constantly kissing, even at work," said Ildefonso Hernandez, a professor of public health at the Miguel Hernandez University in Alicante.

In addition, Spain has the most people living in flats of any European Union country, according to EU statistics agency Eurostat.

"Our cities are built vertically, there is a lot of density and this can also facilitate the transmission of the epidemic," Rodriguez said.

CLOSE CONTACT WITH SENIORS

While Spaniards have a long average lifespan and the country has a high number of seniors who are more vulnerable to the virus, its share of the population over 65 is lower than other nations that have suffered fewer COVID-19 deaths, such as Germany.

But older people in Spain have more contact with younger family members who can pass on the virus to them, Ildefonso Hernandez said.

"Older people in northern Europe are more secluded and there is more family distance," he said.

In Spain, families "are much tighter, the interaction between youths and seniors is very high," he added.

It is common for several generations to live under the same roof in Spain. The average age a young adult moves out of the home in Spain is 29.5, compared to 18.5 in Sweden and 21.1 in Denmark, according to Eurostat.

NURSING HOMES

Families also frequently visit relatives who live in nursing homes, which became tragic focal points of the pandemic in Spain, Hernandez said.

The health ministry does not provide figures for the number of deaths from COVID-19 at nursing homes.

But the governments of the two hardest-hit regions, Madrid and Catalonia, reported a combined total of around 8,000 confirmed and suspected deaths from the disease at retirement homes.

Residents of nursing homes are "very old, very fragile," said Trilla.

"They are not healthcare establishments and were not prepared for this. That caused a fire of colossal proportions," he added.

STRAINED HEALTH CARE SYSTEM

Spain's public healthcare system is ranked in the top 10 in the world by the World Health Organization (WHO), but it has suffered deep spending cuts since the global financial crisis more than a decade ago.

While it has a strong primary care network, hospitals have fewer beds than the European average, which forced them to improvise during the pandemic.

Like banks with little solvency "they did not pass the stress test," said Guillem Lopez-Casasnovas, an economist and expert on healthcare systems at Barcelona's Pompeu Fabra University who has worked as an advisor to the WHO.

"When you live day to day, you get the most out of what you have, but you don't have enough muscle to respond to a major stressor like now," he added.

Agence France-Presse

Spain announces record 838 virus deaths in 24 hours

MADRID - Spain confirmed another 838 deaths in 24 hours from coronavirus on Sunday, a new daily record bringing the total number of deaths to 6,528, according to health ministry figures.

The number of confirmed cases in Spain has now reached 78,797 -- after the one-day increase of 9.1 percent -- as the country battles the world's second most deadly outbreak after Italy.

Except for a brief lull recorded on Thursday, Spain's death toll has been rising daily.

However, officials have pointed to a slower growth rate for both deaths and confirmed cases and expressed hope that the peak of the outbreak was approaching.

"The spread (of the pandemic) appears to be stabilizing. It even appears to be in retreat, but we have to remember that our fundamental problem at the moment is to ensure the intensive care units are not saturated," said Fernando Simon, the health ministry's emergencies coordinator. 

Simon said that 6 out of a total 17 regions "have reached their capacity limit and three more are fast approaching that stage." 

The toughening of the current lockdown conditions should help the situation, he added 

Spain also reported Sunday that 14,709 people had been cured of COVID-19, a rise of 19.7 percent in 24 hours.

Like Italy, Spain on Saturday tightened measures to contain the outbreak, ordering a halt to all "non-essential" activities.

Currently, people in Spain are authorized to leave home for work if remote work is not possible, to buy food, get medical care or briefly walk their dog.

"All workers in non-essential economic activities must stay at home for two weeks," Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said.

The health, food and energy sectors are among areas considered to be essential.

An emergency cabinet meeting on Sunday decided on the details of the new measures.

From Monday only essential services will be allowed to function until at least Thursday April 4, the meeting decided.

That means other sectors, including construction and most office work will be halted

Agence France-Presse