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  • the human cost off.

  • The virus in Spain shows no sign of abating.

  • It's once again registered its highest daily fatality figures.

  • 864 patients have died in 24 hours.

  • More than 9000 people have now died in Spain since the pandemic began.

  • Second only to Italy, countries now recorded more than 100,000 cases in total.

  • Well, let's talk to James.

  • Bad Luck, a journalist in Madrid, James another grim tally today, indeed extremely grim on the news that's coming through increasingly from regions around Spain, from mayors and local lead and sister.

  • Perhaps thes death figures are actually a serious underestimation off the reality.

  • Because a lot of people are dying in their homes, they're not necessarily being tested or the dying in care homes and where, you know, we've seen many of those residents have been completely overwhelmed on many patients haven't been tested on will not therefore be registered as deaths due to cope with 19 so that the real figure could be several 1000 higher.

  • We really will.

  • You know, I don't want to, you know, be too dramatic about it, but it does look like the real figure is considerably higher on what's also clearly the case is that there are many, many, many hundreds of thousands off positives out in Spain.

  • We just don't know.

  • The government hasn't been able to distribute yet a lot off rapid test kits to screen groups around the country to really find out the extent off infection.

  • There's talk that 50% of the population in one study could be infected.

  • We don't know, but it's clearly must be more than 102,000 because that also would give us a death rate even according to the official figures off 9%.

  • And no one thinks that's realistic.

  • So the crisis is still somehow beyond the health authority's control.

  • It's It's just hard to know the full dimensions off what's going on.

  • It's a desperate picture, and are there any signs of hope to come?

  • Of course, in the UK we heard yesterday about about green shoots the government's advisers were talking about, as in a flattening the curve and the prospect that after we get over thier apex of the curve, things might get a little better, is the same a glimmer of hope apparent in Spain?

  • I mean there's a press conference.

  • It'll be going on now.

  • The daily press conference off the technical committee.

  • You're looking after this now they're talking about the same idea, the curves flattening in terms of the official numbers.

  • The numbers are pretty much pretty similar each day.

  • We have a slight new record today, but we're talking about 800 of 800 odd deaths each day.

  • We're talking about a rise in recognized cases, or about 9 10% per day.

  • But what is the reality?

  • That's that's the issue.

  • It's still not known, and difficult choices are beginning to help to be made.

  • For example, Catalonia has the Catalan health services, giving out instructions to its doctors to basically screen older patients for who and who will not be admitted to intensive care depends on their age.

  • It depends on on how friendly they are.

  • Eso resources are absolutely stretched to the limit, and there is a sense that you know the crisis.

  • You know, the amount of infections is so great that it's hard to really say where the peak is it.

  • It's feels like it's coming.

  • But you know, when will that be?

  • It's impossible to say, and locked down measures, of course could be here to stay for a long time on day.

  • One last question.

  • James on on personal protection equipment because we've heard a lot about that in Spain, as in the UK, and so many other countries are getting on top of that problem.

  • I think that is the beginning to count off of that.

  • How for a mixture off some supplies have been brought in.

  • There been several planeloads off supplies to help, especially health workers who protected while while they're working.

  • But still we have.

  • And this was two days ago.

  • The fiddler last figure I've seen on the amount of infected health workers is more than 12,000.

  • So that's over 10% off the total number of positives in Spain.

  • And that is largely, I think, due to the difficulty of getting enough equipment to the right people at the right time.

  • Upset a whole world, scrambling for visors for face masks and and all the rest of it on.

  • But there was a big cost in Spain because of that.

  • But I think it is that is beginning to get better now, James, I'm glad we found something to feel hopeful about.

  • Even in the case.

  • Figures and the death figures and the testing figures are still so samba.

  • Thanks for joining us, kid.

the human cost off.

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