The number of medical personnel infected with the Covid-19 coronavirus in Spain continues to grow day by day now totalling over 5,400. The figure represents an increase of 1,490 new cases in the last 24 hours.
Fernando Simón, the director of the Coordination Centre for Alerts and Sanitary announced the figure this morning (Tuesday) saying that the figures are uneven across the Autonomous Communities and the hospitals. “There are some hospitals where many of their staff are affected by the Covid-19 coronavirus but in many others there are far less cases.” However, what is alarming is that during the last 24 hours, the number of personnel infected has risen by 1,490 cases.
On the previous day the increase in Covid-19 coronavirus cases was 13 percent, today the growth represents 38 percent. This means that the number of people infected with Covid-19 coronavirus is almost doubling day after day among healthcare staff.
According to the latest data from the Ministry of Health, Spain now has 39,673 positive cases of coronavirus. There have been 2,696 deaths, there are 2,696 patients in the ICU but 3,794 people have been discharged.
“The vast majority of these new cases have occurred in Catalonia and Madrid,” according to Simón.
Increase in cases among healthcare professionals
When asked about the reason for the increase in cases of Covid-19 coronavirus among health professionals, the Ministry of Health spokesman said that much of it could be attributed to a lack of protective wear, “there have been specific times when access to protection material has been difficult”
“In Spain, from those first days when we had just two or three outbreaks, healthcare personnel were being affected because they didn’t have adequate protection. That fact had a significant impact on the number of those who are now infected. It is true that access to personal protective equipment has been critical, since the provision of this equipment in the global market was difficult. Today, this problem is being resolved, but there is still no global availability,” Simón confessed, acknowledging that “some health professionals have been infected during their healthcare work, while others have been infected in the community itself.”
Prolonged pressure in ICUs by coronavirus
The progressive increase in the number of cases of Covid-19 coronavirus in Spain now sees the country approaching the peak, after which the numbers will begin to decrease. Even so, when we reach this point, “there will still be enormous pressure on the hospitals”, therefore “health professionals are still going to have a period of long-term effort, much longer than the population is going to have.
Meanwhile those who are hospitalised and those who are admitted to the ICU will continue to rise in the coming days. ”
The government spokesman also said that “this is now the hardest week the country is facing, in which we are all waiting to reach that peak of Covid-19 coronavirus infections.”
“The change in the inflection of the curve must be considered separately from all the weight that the number of cases has on the existential system, since the hospitalized and the people who are admitted to the ICU take a few days to occur”, has explained.
