Hospitals in Catalonia, Spain's second worst-hit region by the coronavirus pandemic, are at "maximum stress", the regional leader Quim Torra told Reuters on Friday.
Spain's second most populous region has the highest number of coronavirus patients in intensive care in the country - 2,053, according to the latest data - and has registered 2,335 fatalities, second only to the Madrid region.
"At the hospital level we are being able to give response to all the cases that are arriving but we are at the limit, we are at maximum stress," Catalan regional government chief Torra said in an interview. He added that the main issue was a shortage of equipment.
Torra suggested that, given the coronavirus outbreak, the snap election he was due to call in the coming weeks will likely be held after the summer instead.
