Dead and dying elderly coronavirus victims are found ABANDONED in multiple Spanish care homes – with some left under the same roof as their deceased loved-ones
- Corpses found in same homes as loved ones who are still alive, reports suggest
- Spain’s Military Emergency Unit (UME) were cleaning the homes to slow spread
- Deadly coronavirus infected more than 33,000 and killed 2,200 in Spain alone
- Coronavirus symptoms: what are they and should you see a doctor?
Spanish soldiers have found dead and dying people abandoned in multiple care homes after the army was called in to disinfect the properties over coronavirus fears.
Spain’s defence minister Margarita Robles said the military had found ‘some old people completely abandoned, sometimes even dead in their beds’.
Some of the patients’ bodies have been found in the same homes as loved ones who were still alive, Spanish media says.
Reports say that corpses were found in care homes where some of the staff had left after the virus was detected there.
Spain’s general prosecutor has launched an investigation as authorities promised to be ‘strict and inflexible’ about safeguarding older people.
The virus death toll in Spain surged to 2,182 on Monday after another 462 people died within 24 hours, according to health ministry figures.
Members of Spain’s Military Emergency Unit walk with special equipment to disinfect areas to prevent the spread of coronavirus
The Spanish military were mobilised to focus on elderly care homes towards the end of last week.
State prosecutors have already announced they are investigating a Madrid care home where 17 people had died.
Regional health chiefs confirmed today that 21 people had died at a care home in Alcoy near Alicante identified as Domus Vi.
The places where bodies have been found ‘abandoned’ have not been identified.
Spain’s Defence Minister Margarita Robles told a prime-time Spanish TV programme: ‘The army, during some visits, has seen elderly people absolutely abandoned, if not dead in their beds.
‘We are going to be strict and inflexible when dealing with the way old people are treated in these residences.’
Coronavirus has infected more than 33,000 and killed 2,200 in Spain alone. Pictured: Members of Spain’s Military Emergency Unit with specialist disinfectant equiptment
Soldiers tasked with disinfecting care homes in Spain as part of measures to slow the spread of coronavirus are discovering abandoned bodies. Pictured: Soldiers disinfected a shopping mall which will be used as a morgue
Insisting that the great majority of elderly care homes did a proper job of caring properly for their residents, she added: ‘The full weight of the law will be brought to bear on those who don’t fulfil their obligations.’
Spain reported 4,517 new infections of the coronavirus on Monday, bringing the overall number since the beginning of the outbreak to 33,089.
Under coronavirus protocols, health workers have been instructed to leave bodies in place in suspected Covid-19 deaths until the arrival of a doctor. But given the upsurge in deaths, the delay can be lengthy.
Politicians in Madrid have admitted 20 per cent of its elderly care homes have coronavirus cases.
Monte Hermoso, near the Spanish capital’s biggest park Casa de Campo, was identified last week as the first care home rocked by mass deaths due to coronavirus.
Earlier, the city hall said the city’s 14 public cemeteries would stop accepting more bodies because staff there did not have adequate protective gear.
The improvised morgue would start to be used ‘in the coming hours,’ the regional government of Madrid said.
‘This is a temporary and exceptional measure which aims to mitigate the pain of the family members of the victims and the situation hospitals in Madrid are facing.’
A nearby congress centre has been converted into a field hospital for coronavirus patients that will have a total of 5,500 beds.
The elderly are especially vulnerable in the global pandemic and officials around the world are increasingly calling for extreme measures to safeguard them.
Retirement homes are ‘an absolute priority for the government’, Health Minister Salvador Illa told a press conference.
‘We will exercise the most intensive monitoring of these centres.’
Politicians in Madrid have admitted 20 per cent of its elderly care homes have coronavirus cases. Pictured: Policeman outside a shopping mall which will be used as a morgue