Morgue on ice: Spain uses Madrid ice rink as makeshift mortuary to cope with world's 3rd-highest Covid-19 death toll
Spanish authorities have been forced to use a Madrid ice rink as a makeshift morgue on ice to cope with the soaring death toll from coronavirus in the country, which is currently the 3rd-highest in the world.
Spain have recorded nearly 2,700 deaths from the disease in the country, and have resorted to desperate measures to deal with the rising body count.
In the country's capital, the Palacio de Hielo (Ice Palace) ice rink is usually used for skating, hockey and curling but has since been transformed into a morgue next to a specially-converted hospital for patients infected with Covid-19.
Spain has the fourth-highest number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the world at 39,673, behind Italy, China and the US respectively.
In the last 24 hours, the number of dead has increased by 514, bringing the official total to 2,696, the third-highest number of casualties, behind China and Italy.
Around 80 percent of the Madrid population is expected to be infected by the disease, and regional authorities described the "temporary and extraordinary measure" of converting the ice rink as being designed to "lessen the pain of the families of the victims and the situation that's being recorded in Madrid's hospitals."
