Corona virus in Spain: – Full intensities:

Spain is among the European countries hardest hit by the corona pandemic this spring. During the summer, contagion rates have risen again, and in the last two weeks the country has registered almost 122,000 new cases, according to figures from the Spanish health authorities.

A third of these are registered in Madrid, a region that was also among the most affected this spring.

Now, the surgeon and general secretary of the Illustrious College of Physicians of Madrid, Angela Hernández Puente, warns that the situation is getting worse again in the hospital in the region.

PREPARING: Spanish military tents were set up at the Gómez Ulla Military Hospital on Friday to handle a new wave of covid-19 patients in Madrid. Four months have passed since the same tents were dismantled. Photo: Manu Fernandez / AP / NTB
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Full intensities

One of the FHI criteria for marking a country or region is that it must have fewer than 20 confirmed cases per 100,000 inhabitants. Norway now has just over 28, while the number is 65 in the UK, 178 in France and 33 in Italy, according to figures from the European Infection Control Agency (ECDC).

– Worse than in March

In the whole of Spain, this figure is now 300. In Madrid, however, the figure is 696, and in one of the areas of the city currently most affected by the pandemic, Pente de Vallecas, the figure reached a few days to 1241, according to El Diario.

So far, patients with Covid-19 represent 8.6 percent of all hospital places in the country. In Madrid, this figure is 21 percent and is increasing rapidly, according to The Guardian.

Two of the region’s hospitals already have full intensive care units.

– Including covid-19 patients and other patients, these are already full. This means that they now have to use areas that were converted to intensive care units this spring, but are not really. Planned operations are postponed, which is difficult because we are already behind schedule with operations, Hernández Puente explains to the newspaper.

The alarm sounded in March: more work now

One of the measures the region is considering now is to reopen the large field hospital that was built in Madrid’s conference center when the pandemic devastated the country at its worst this spring.

– I don’t know where it will end

Health Deputy Director Espen Nakstad has also expressed concern that the infection that had spread among younger adults in Europe in late summer is now spreading to other more vulnerable age groups.

– Hospitals in France and Spain have had a large influx of patients with covid-19 in recent days, and the increase seems to be occurring rapidly. So there is a real risk that we will soon have a second wave of infection in several European countries, as the virus again begins to spread uncontrollably and affects larger population groups, he told Dagbladet earlier this week.

Hernández Puente is among those who despair over what he believes are too late measures by local authorities and fear that the time to limit the infection is about to run out.

Infection Warning: – Perfect Storm

– One cannot just hope that this problem will solve itself, something they seem to do, he tells The Guardian and adds:

– I don’t know where this will end. I really do not know.

Enter measurements

As in other countries, quarantine regulations and the increase in infections also affect Spanish health personnel. Several health centers in Madrid have been closed due to staff shortages, writes The Guardian.

The nurse at the Buenos Aires Medical Center in Madrid, Flora Espejo, is among those desperate for the long lines in front of the test stations. She points out that the situation affects the working class of the city more.

MEASUREMENTS: As a result of the high spread of the infection in Madrid, it has now been decided to close several districts of Madrid in the hope of controlling the infection. Spain has had more than 11,000 new cases of infection daily in recent days, a large proportion of which are in the Community of Madrid. The photo was taken in the center of Madrid on Friday. Photo: Manu Fernandez / AP / NTB
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– We cannot serve these people due to the situation in which we find ourselves at the moment. Look around. Who has to go to work? Working classes. Who has to travel to go to work? Working classes. Who Can’t Work From Home? Working classes. Who lives in apartments between 6 and 45 m² of large apartments? Working classes. They are the ones who suffer from this, he told local television La Sexta this Thursday and continued:

– We are crowded, but it is these people who suffer the mismanagement of the regional government.

Late on Friday afternoon it was decided to introduce a partial closure of all districts of Madrid with more than 1,000 confirmed cases per 100,000 inhabitants.

Therefore, the closure will affect some 850,000 people in 37 of the most affected districts of Madrid.

In these zones, the only valid reason to leave the areas will be work, school, or for medical or legal reasons. Public or private gatherings can have a maximum of six people and public parks will be closed, according to The Guardian.