Madrid turns ice rink into morgue as death toll climbs

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Police and health workers in masks guarded Madrid's Olympic-sized ice rink on Tuesday (March 24), as it was turned into a makeshift morgue as the country grapples with the coronavirus pandemic.

Spain reported its sharpest daily increase in cases on Tuesday with infections rising among health workers.

Around 14% of all infections are among health workers, which the country's health emergency chief attributed to the limited availability of protective equipment

and early clusters of the virus occurring in hospitals.

The military has also been disinfecting numerous nursing homes -

the state prosecutor has opened an investigation after the army reportedly found unattended bodies at some of the homes.

The Health Ministry reported around 6,600 new cases of the coronavirus and 500 deaths overnight.

With nearly 40,000 cases and more than 2,500 deaths, Spain is the second worst-hit country in Europe after Italy.