At the of King Felipe VI. The guided ceremony in the courtyard of the Palace of Madrid was attended by over 700 people, including the royal family, government officials, victims’ families and representatives of the medical profession and nursing staff.
“Today I am here because my father is no longer here,” said María Díaz Diñeiro, the daughter of the head of general surgery at Madrid University Hospital La Paz, who died in April 2020, in an emotional speech. “We weren’t able to hug him one last time.”
But now the vaccinations gave hope for a better future. King Felipe posthumously awarded paramedics, nurses and doctors who died of Covid-19 with the Grand Cross of the Order of Civil Merit. At the same time, he reminded everyone that the crisis was not over and that its end would depend on everyone’s behavior.
Due to the rapid spread of the highly contagious delta variant of the corona virus, Spain is currently fighting a new wave of infections, and several regions have tightened their restrictions again.