Twelve employees of the Radboudumc university hospital in Nijmegen, in the eastern Netherlands, have been placed under preventive quarantine for six weeks after potentially being exposed to the hantavirus while treating an infected patient from the Hondius cruise ship.

Unexpected turn at the start this Monday of the long-awaited trial for the alleged corruption scheme surrounding the payment of invoices during the projection and construction of the new Hospital Universitari Sant Joan de Reus (Baix Camp), after fifteen years of judicial investigation. Two of the main accused, Josep Prat, then general director of the municipal holding Innova de Reus and former president of the Institut Català de la Salut (ICS), and the architect Jorge Batesteza have reached a plea agreement with the Prosecutor’s Office after admitting to the crimes of prevarication, embezzlement of public funds, and document falsification, according to the defense lawyer of Josep Prat who reported this on the first day of the trial.

There are situations that cry out to heaven. And Pepe Espino’s (Barcelona, 54 years old) is one of them. With stage IV prostate cancer and metastases in bones, lungs, and soft tissues, the Institut Català d’Avaluacions Mèdiques (ICAM) discharged him to return to work after being on sick leave for two and a half years. Hence, the Instituto Nacional de la Seguridad Social (INSS) denied him permanent disability. All this despite having reports from his oncologist at the Clínic hospital detailing that he is undergoing palliative hormonal treatment whose symptoms “prevent him from performing any work activity.” In February, this newspaper reported on the case. And now, fortunately, the ICAM has rectified, and Pepe has already received the first payment from the INSS of his disability pension.

The protests in schools do not subside. This Tuesday marks the start of the first of 16 planned educational strikes in the public sector by the unions. Many are local, corresponding to educational territorial zones, but today’s, May 12, the one on the 27th of the same month, and the one on June 5 will be for all of Catalonia. In practice, each center can strike for five days in these remaining 40 days to finish the school year.