• Illa did not attend the summit organised by the WHO in February in Geneva to deal with the coronavirus

The Minister of Health, Salvador Illa, failed to attend the summit held by the the World Health Organization (WHO) during the second week of February to discuss the adoption of measures to deal with the coronavirus worldwide.

The seminar was attended by 400 authorities and experts from all over the world and held in Geneva on February 11 and 12. At the forum, Covid-19 and the development of vaccines, treatments and diagnoses were discussed.

However, according to the Government’s agenda, on February 11, the first day of the coronavirus forum, Salvador Illa was in the plenary session of the Congress of Deputies. It was his only official appointment of that day. On February 12, Minister Illa again attended the Congress and then, in the afternoon, he travelled to Catalonia to visit the Hospital Clínic de Barcelona together with the Catalan Health Minister, Alba Vergés.

During those two days, the coronavirus forum discussed different areas of research, such as identifying the origin of the virus as well as exchanging biological samples and data on genetic sequences. A global research program on Covid-19 emerged from the meeting, setting priorities and guiding frameworks for those affected countries. The coronavirus was rated “a very serious threat to everyone with a vaccine that would take a further 18 months to develop.”

“Understanding the disease, its origins, its transmission and clinical severity, and then developing effective measures to combat it is critical to controlling the outbreak, reducing the number of deaths and minimizing the economic impact,” said Soumya Swaminathan at the time , chief scientific officer of The OMS.

The forum brought together leading scientists , Public Health organizations, and funding entities involved in research related to Covid-19. It was jointly organised with the Global Collaborative Initiative for Infectious Disease Preparedness. It was during these two days when it was christened the coronavirus Covid-19 and baptized as “a common enemy that knows no borders.”

Spain has already registered more than 10,000 deaths from the pandemic and more than 117,000 are currently infected with coronavirus. By communities, Madrid continues to be the most affected, followed by Catalonia, Castilla-La Mancha, Castilla y León, the Basque Country and Andalusia.

As a consequence of the high level of deaths, funeral homes are not able to deal with the number of bodies, so several weeks ago the Community of Madrid set up a provisional morgue at the Ice Palace. As the deaths have continued to rise, Madrid opened another morgue. This time, in the City of Justice.

Now, on Friday, the Community of Madrid has established a third morgue, located in the Madrid municipality of Majadahonda, also in its Ice Palace, a conditioned infrastructure, in front of the Puerta de Hierro University Hospital, with an area of ​​1,800 square metres.