Those in Spanish care home reflect on virus impact

One of the main frontlines in battling the new coronavirus in Spain have been elderly care homes, with the numbers of deaths of residents in both public and privately run facilities extraordinarily high.

In a video released by the NGO, staff and residents spoke about the struggle to keep the new coronavirus at bay.One elderly resident said she was "tremendously tense" but that the care home personnel were doing their best.

The director of the Toledo residency pointed out more personal protection equipment and virus tests were needed in care homes to protect both the workers and residents.

The issue of the care that some elderly were receiving hit the headlines on 24 March, when the Spanish minister of defence said that military personnel were finding abandoned dead residents.

According to data given to El Pais, 13 residencies in the Madrid region have had 480 deaths in the last month.The protection and care of both the residents and health care staff is under review.The Messengers for Peace is a secular non-profit organisation started by the Catholic Father Angel Garcia.

For most people, the new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks.But the virus is highly contagious, and for some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia, and could lead to death.

(Image Credit: AP)