Spain Turns to Robots for Coronavirus Tests as Deaths Surge
Spanish Coronavirus Deaths Jump 32% in One Day
(Bloomberg) --
The coronavirus outbreak continues to accelerate in Spain despite a weeklong national lockdown, with deaths jumping more than 30% for a second day.
Fatalities rose by 324, or 32%, to 1,326, according to Health Ministry data released Saturday, similar to the previous day’s gain. Confirmed coronavirus cases rose by about 25% to 24,926, bigger than the 16% jump reported Friday.
The new data comes as the Mediterranean nation enters its second week of a state of emergency that has confined most people to their homes and has police patrolling the streets to enforce the lockdown. Spain has been testing between 15,000 and 20,000 people a day and will use robots to increase that by fourfold.
“A plan to automate tests through robots has been already designed, and Spain has committed to buying four robots that will allow us to execute 80,000 tests per day,” Raquel Yotti, head of Madrid-based Health Institute Carlos III, said at a health ministry press conference Saturday.
With the pandemic straining the country’s health service, the regional government of Madrid, the epicenter of the outbreak in the country, has announced it will use hotels as makeshift hospitals.
To mitigate the economic impact of the virus, the Spanish government has introduced measures including an aid package for the tourism and transport industries and is guaranteeing up to 100 billion euros ($107 billion) of loans to help banks free up credit for small- and medium-sized companies.
©2020 Bloomberg L.P.