Spain pays tribute to 28,413 lives lost to virus

MADRID • Badly hit by the pandemic and carefully watching the latest outbreaks, Spain paused yesterday to honour its tens of thousands of victims at a state ceremony joined by top EU and World Health Organisation (WHO) figures.

The memorial took place barely three weeks after Spain ended its months-long state of emergency. However, since then, there have been a growing number of new coronavirus infections, with health chiefs monitoring more than 120 active outbreaks.

So far, the virus has officially claimed 28,413 lives in Spain, making it the seventh worst-hit country in the world.

"Today, we are symbolically saying goodbye to mothers, fathers, children, siblings, friends: We take their hands, caress their cheek, kiss their forehead and remember their glance in our hearts," Mr Hernando Calleja, who lost his brother in April, said in an address at the ceremony.

Presided over by Spain's King Felipe VI, the memorial took place in a square outside the Royal Palace in the presence of bereaved families and a host of top European Union and WHO officials, with an orchestra playing Samuel Barber's Adagio For Strings.

"This act cannot heal the pain felt by so many families at not being at the side of their loved ones in their final hours... but what it can do is pay tribute to their lives, to their contribution to our society, to their memories," the King said.

For months, tens of thousands of doctors and nurses have been engaged in the front-line battle against the virus, which at its peak, pushed Spain's healthcare system to the brink of collapse.

"It has been very hard, we have felt powerless in the face of a cruel sense of uncertainty... we have given everything and worked to the limit of our strength," Nurse Aroa Lopez, from Barcelona, said at the ceremony.

Among those attending were EU Council head Charles Michel, European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen, European Parliament leader David Sassoli and top EU diplomat Josep Borrell.

Nato chief Jens Stoltenberg and WHO head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus were also present.

In late May, the government held a 10-day mourning period for the victims - the longest since Spain returned to democracy after the fall of the Franco dictatorship in 1975.

With the population back on the streets and the borders with Europe and a dozen other countries now open, there has been a resurgence of coronavirus infections in Spain.

In areas where recent outbreaks have reached worrying levels, the authorities have made mask-wearing compulsory in public at all times, even if the safety distance can be respected.

Even so, the government has ruled out any renewal of a nationwide lockdown imposed during the state of emergency that was declared on March 14, saying the regional health authorities will be able to control outbreaks.

"With the peak behind us, the regions have the necessary tools to tackle particular situations," Deputy Prime Minister Carmen Calvo said on Tuesday.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE