MADRID — Health officials in Madrid say the strain of incoming patients is easing in hospitals and allowing authorities to think about how to start reverting those facilities to normal operations.
Patients awaiting treatment in emergency wards across the region of 6.6-million that has been hard hit by the new coronavirus went down Monday to 390 cases. That’s one tenth of the arrivals that were seen one week ago.
The number of people being treated for the coronavirus in intensive care units had fluctuated but stabilized at around 1,500 for five straight days.
Regional health minister Enrique Ruíz Escudero says officials are considering returning beds that have been used for positive COVID-19 patients to beds used for normal activity in hospitals.
The development follows a week of social media postings showing patients resting on the floor and in chairs at the suburban hospital.
