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JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (AFP) — Two patients died on Tuesday after a fire broke out in the coronavirus ward of a hospital in northern South Africa, the local health department said. The incident occurred at a hospital in Modimolle, 170 kilometres (106 miles) north of Johannesburg in rural Limpopo province. “A team of fire experts… have been dispatched to F.H. Odendaal hospital in Modimolle where two patients died after a fire broke out at the […]
by Olivier MONNIER TORONTO, Canada (AFP) — Intensive care nurse Farial Faquiry says the health care system in Canada’s Ontario province is nearing the breaking point as it fights a fast-moving new wave of Covid-19 infections. The 29-year-old caregiver at Toronto’s Humber River Hospital is looking after two patients in their 60s who are on ventilators. “We’re overwhelmed,” Faquiry told AFP, conveying the feelings of her peers who often say they feel powerless against a […]
AHMEDABAD, India (AFP) — At least 16 Covid-19 patients and two nurses died Saturday in the latest in a series of hospital fires in India, officials said, as the country’s health care system buckles under a surge in cases. There were around 50 other patients at the four-storey hospital in Bharuch in the western state of Gujarat when the blaze began at 1:00 am (0730 GMT). It has since been put out. The death […]
by Adam PLOWRIGHT PARIS, France (AFP) — In the Covid-19 intensive care unit of the Antony Private Hospital south of Paris, no bed stays free for long and medics wonder when their workload will finally peak. As one recovered elderly patient is being wheeled out of the ward, smiling weakly, boss Jean-Pierre Deyme is on the phone arranging the next arrival and calling out instructions to staff. Louisa Pinto, a nurse of nearly 20 years’ […]
BUCHAREST, Romania (AFP) — At least four people died Friday after a fire broke out in Romania’s main hospital treating Covid-19 patients, officials told AFP. Three patients were found dead at the Matei Bals hospital in Bucarest and a fourth died despite attempts at resuscitation, state secretary of the Ministry of Interior Raed Arafat told reporters. The fire reportedly broke out on the ground floor around 5:00am (0300 GMT), said Orlando Schiopu, head of […]
by Sébastien VUAGNAT with Laurent BANGUET in Los Angeles APPLE VALLEY, United States (AFP) — As Covid-19 tears through southern California, small hospitals in rural towns like Apple Valley have been overwhelmed, with coronavirus patients crammed into hallways, makeshift ICU beds and even the pediatric ward. When AFP visited St Mary hospital in this desert town of 70,000 people this week, palliative care supervisor Kari McGuire said her team were seeing “astronomical numbers of patients […]
by Thomas PERROTEAU LAGANES, Spain (AFP) — At Severo Ochoa hospital in a Madrid suburb badly-hit during the pandemic’s first wave, the intensive care unit is once again full and exhausted medics dread a repeat of the same “horror”. “We’re swamped,” admits Ricardo Diaz Abad, head of intensive care at this hospital in Leganes, south-west of Madrid, standing in front of the unit’s 12 beds, all filled with gravely ill Covid-19 patients. “Unfortunately we lost […]
MEXICO CITY, Mexico (AFP) — A robot at a hospital in the Mexican capital is providing a lifeline for coronavirus patients separated from their relatives and reducing the risk of infection for medical workers. “Hi, I’m LaLuchy Robotina! What’s your name?” the 1.4-meter-tall (4.6 feet) robot asks patients as it goes from room to room. It moves around on wheels and has a camera and display screen enabling relatives and doctors to chat with patients […]
SAINT PETERSBURG, Russia (AFP) — A fire at a hospital in Russia’s second city Saint Petersburg has killed at least five people and forced dozens to be evacuated, a source in the emergencies ministry told AFP. “Five people died in the fire, 150 were evacuated,” the source said of the blaze at the Saint George hospital, which news agency TASS reported had been repurposed to treat coronavirus patients. © Agence France-Presse
by David HARDING Agence France Presse LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — Joan Pons Laplana is a senior digital charge nurse working on the frontline in an intensive care unit treating coronavirus patients at Sheffield Teaching Hospital in the north of England. Like many of his colleagues in the state-run National Health Service (NHS), the 45-year-old medic is not British. The Spanish national works alongside people from Germany, Italy, Portugal, Philippines and India, as well […]
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (AFP) — Sixty-six people, most of them staff at one South African hospital, have tested positive for coronavirus, the health minister said Tuesday as the national total of cases jumpted to 1,749. Authorities are now rushing to temporarily shut the facility. Health Minister Zweli Mkhize said authorities were concerned about an outbreak at St. Augustine hospital, in the southeastern coastal city of Durban. Of those infected, 48 are hospital staffers, the minister […]
by Alice RITCHIE / Phil HAZLEWOOD Agence France Presse LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — Britain on Friday opened a new 4,000-bed temporary hospital to treat the most seriously ill coronavirus patients, as day-on-day deaths surged to a new record and royal officials said Queen Elizabeth II would make a rare crisis address to the nation. Heir to the throne Prince Charles opened the state-run National Health Service (NHS) Nightingale Hospital, which has been built […]
