MADRID (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 15th July, 2021) Spanish King Felipe VI granted the Grand Crosses of the Order of Civil Merit to relatives of medical workers who died of COVID-19 and were awarded posthumously, in a ceremony held in Madrid on Thursday.
"Spain will never forget the citizens who faced this serious illness, everyone who died alone, the older generation... and, of course, all medical workers who sacrificed the most valuable thing a person has - their own life," the king said.
The event, which took place on the Armory Square in front of the Royal Palace, was attended by about 700 people, among whom were members of the Spanish government, including Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, heads of all state institutions, and heads of governments of autonomous communities, as well as about 250 relatives of doctors and sanitary workers who died in the line of duty during the pandemic.
"Today I want to say words of recognition to the medical staff who did their work in the most difficult moments, to all the men and women who, in the darkest days, set a duty over their safety, acted according to their conscience... Today you are still at the forefront of helping people, vaccinating them in all parts of our country day and night so that we can all be safe as soon as possible," Felipe VI said.
The ceremony was also attended by the surgeon Maria Diaz Dineiro, daughter of the head of the La Paz Hospital General Surgery Department, Joaquin Diaz, who died of COVID-19 in April 2020, as well as 97 year old Araceli Hidalgo, the first Spanish woman to be vaccinated against the coronavirus in late December 2020.
More than 80,000 people became victims of the pandemic in Spain, including more than 100 doctors, nurses, and other frontline medical personnel. Since the spring of last year, when the COVID-19 pandemic was officially declared, the number of infections in Spain has risen to more than 4 million. According to the Health Ministry of Spain, 60% of the population has received at least one vaccine dose and almost 50% have received both.
