Europe | Dancing with death

Spain’s poisonous politics have worsened the pandemic and the economy

Its record is Europe’s worst on both counts

|MADRID

THE INFANTA LEONOR hospital, wedged between a motorway and a suburban railway, serves the dense working-class districts of south-eastern Madrid. Last month 402 of its 480 doctors signed a letter to the regional government warning that the hospital was in a state of “pre-collapse”, with 54% of its 361 beds and all 27 intensive-care spaces occupied by covid-19 patients. With 784 cases per 100,000 people in the past fortnight, Madrid is currently the worst-hit region in Europe.

This article appeared in the Europe section of the print edition under the headline “Dancing with death”

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