Rural California hospital overwhelmed by Covid-19 patients

In Barcelona's Hospital del Mar, all the beds in the Covid-19 intensive care unit are occupied by patients. The healthcare workers are struggling to cope with a spike in cases in recent weeks. Over the past fortnight, the number of people going to hospital rose by 82 percent while intensive care admissions increased by 60 percent, prompting some regions, such as Valencia to set up field hospitals.

COVID19: The struggle, battle And controversy

Here is why you should pick up a copy of The Guardian on Friday. Here are some of the stories to look out for when you grab a copy of The Guardian on the newsstands on Friday.

Difficulties breathing, walking, concentrating: five months after being diagnosed with Covid-19, Canadian Violaine Cousineau, like many others, continues to suffer severe persistent symptoms that prevent her from resuming a normal life.

Around 1,500 medical workers and Covid-19 patients, many in full PPE, join for a mass performance of the angklung, a traditional Indonesian instrument made of bamboo. The act marks the opening of the country’s largest Covid-19 hospital which has treated more than 70,000 patients.

Jennifer and Matthieu, sufferers of 'long Covid', have a lot in common. They're both in their mid-thirties, caught Covid-19 in March 2020, and suffered mild flu-like symptoms at the time. They have both seen their lives turned upside down as they've since struggled with long-term symptoms, including difficulty breathing, trouble concentrating and chest pain. But while treatment programmes for long Covid are now being developed, finding the health professionals to carry them out is another challenge.

Several people died after the oxygen supply to a hospital was cut off because of a problem with a gas tank. The incident comes as India grapples with an unmanageable third wave of coronavirus infections.

The blaze at a hospital in western India comes as the country grapples with the world's biggest daily surge of COVID infections since the beginning of the pandemic.

In Madrid, heavily dependent patients with reduced mobility are being vaccinated with the single dose Janssen vaccine first. Soledad Holgado, a doctor in the Madrid region, says the single dose means "we are going to speed up the vaccination process".

The alarming surge of COVID cases in India has restricted medical treatment for Afghan citizens, who rely on the country's health facilities. For one Afghan patient, the stakes are getting higher with each passing day.

About 97% of Kenyans seeking medical treatments abroad go to India. With rising COVID-19 deaths and restrictions on travel to India, Kenyans seeking treatment have been left stranded.

Grace a robotic medical assistant was created to relieve the burden on the frontline medical staff who have been overworked due to the pandemic. The robot is designed to interact with people in isolation.