A nurse slumped over the wheel of her ambulance after waiting eight hours with a COVID patient aboard for admission to a Palermo hospital has become a fresh symbol of the heroism of frontline health workers in the COVID fight.
During the lockdown in the spring, a similar photo of another exhausted nurse slumped in front of her computer became the first iconic image of the battle.
A member of the Palermo emergency services said on Facebook: "I'm thinking of what I saw today together with my team, kitted out for eight hours straight with a suspected (COVID case) in the ambulance, eight interminable hours, and it's not over yet".
He posted photos of his burned-out team, including that of the exhausted nurse.
The nurse's phot was shown on national television, on the prime-time news show of RAI state TV.
It was taken outside Palermo's Villa Sofia Hospital.
Italy is enduring a second COVID wave that has led to new restrictions and closures that have sparked widespread protests.
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