03:36Spain: Health workers fight against COVID-19 at Barcelona hospital
Footage filmed on Wednesday shows healthcare personnel working in the Intensive Care Unit where dozens of patients with coronavirus have been admitted to Sant Joan Despi Moises Broggi Hospital in Sant Joan Despi, Barcelona.
Healthcare workers can be seen using protective gear against infection while attending patients in the different Intensive Care Units of the facility, as well as a special area called the 'COVID floor,’ dedicated exclusively for those infected with the coronavirus.
"[We had to] increase the number of intensive care beds. And we had to convert a hospital area where treatments such as chemotherapy and other similar procedures are carried out into an Intensive Care Unit," said Jordi Vilarasau, director of the Hospital Sant Joan Despi - Moises Broggi.
Although the initial overflow caused by the pandemic has diminished in intensity in recent days, Vilarasau says it will be a long time before the situation returns to what it was before the coronavirus crisis began.
"We believe that until the vaccine arrives we will not return to normal, then we have up to 18 months, say October 2021, we will not recover normalcy, we will have to live with units with COVID patients, have small outbreaks," he said.
As of Wednesday, Spain had confirmed 208,389 cases of coronavirus and 21,717 deaths related to the disease, according to data collected by Johns Hopkins University.
03:36Footage filmed on Wednesday shows healthcare personnel working in the Intensive Care Unit where dozens of patients with coronavirus have been admitted to Sant Joan Despi Moises Broggi Hospital in Sant Joan Despi, Barcelona.
Healthcare workers can be seen using protective gear against infection while attending patients in the different Intensive Care Units of the facility, as well as a special area called the 'COVID floor,’ dedicated exclusively for those infected with the coronavirus.
"[We had to] increase the number of intensive care beds. And we had to convert a hospital area where treatments such as chemotherapy and other similar procedures are carried out into an Intensive Care Unit," said Jordi Vilarasau, director of the Hospital Sant Joan Despi - Moises Broggi.
Although the initial overflow caused by the pandemic has diminished in intensity in recent days, Vilarasau says it will be a long time before the situation returns to what it was before the coronavirus crisis began.
"We believe that until the vaccine arrives we will not return to normal, then we have up to 18 months, say October 2021, we will not recover normalcy, we will have to live with units with COVID patients, have small outbreaks," he said.
As of Wednesday, Spain had confirmed 208,389 cases of coronavirus and 21,717 deaths related to the disease, according to data collected by Johns Hopkins University.