At Las Praderas nursing home in Spain, there have been no COVID-19 deaths as staff work tirelessly to keep the disease at bay. For a month and half, the 95 residents at the home for elderly people in Pozuelo de Alarcón near Madrid have been in lockdown, cut off from the outside world but for the odd Skype call to families.

To meet them, talk to them and take their pictures, you need special permission from the home's owners – and, just as importantly, wear a protective suit, mask and gloves and take a host of other precautions.

The protective measures are sorely needed. The normal monthly death toll in nursing homes in the area is around 1,000 people, showing the scale the coronavirus outbreak is taking on some of the most vulnerable people in Spain. In Las Praderas, however, there have been no death from the virus.

Stringers: Luis Carballo, Jaime Alekos