After a leap in the number of deaths due to COVID-19 infections, Madrid, the capital of Spain, resorted to storing corpses at a skating rink in a mall, reported the wires.

The Palacio de Hielo (Ice palace), which has the capacity for 1800 skaters, was turned on Tuesday into a makeshift morgue after other facilities became overwhelmed with the influx of bodies.

"Preparations have begun so that the installations ceded by the Ice Palace can receive bodies, and facilitate the work of funeral services in the face of this exceptional situation," the regional government of Madrid said in a statement to AFP.
This improvised morgue will start being used "in the coming hours," it added.

"This is a temporary and exceptional measure which aims to mitigate the pain of the family members of the victims and the situation hospitals in Madrid are facing."

The death toll in Spain has reached 4,537 on Tuesday with 385 deaths overnight.

In addition to a field hospital, the city last weak turned two hotels into hospitals and is planning to do the same with five extra hotels in an attempt to manage the health needs of the increasing numbers of coronavirus patients.