Joshua Parfitt
AN 88-year-old man from Madrid with known ‘symptoms of coronavirus’ has entered intensive care in a Murcia hospital after travelling to his second home on the coast.
The man began falling ill in the capital before medical staff advised him to ‘stay at home’.
But he disobeyed orders, travelling by train to his second home on the Mar Menor and becoming one of Murcia’s first coronavirus patients.
According to a doctor at the Hospital Los Arcos, the man ‘went to a centro comercial’ before entering intensive care.
“Not everyone has shown sensible and responsible behaviour,” president of the Murcia region, Fernando López Miras, said.
“What were calls for common sense and responsibility now must become more drastic measures.
“This man adds to the long list of people who think self-isolation means a holiday to Murcia.
“It is lamentable and irresponsible, it cannot be permitted.”
It comes as López has put seven municipalities on the coast into total lockdown.
All businesses – except pharmacies and supermarkets – must now close in Cartagena, San Javier, San Pedro del Pinatar, Los Alcázares, La Unión, Mazarrón and Águilas.
Residents can now only enter or exit the municipalities under confinement for work or health reasons. Inside, residents can only travel for food, medicine or medical assistance.
López has asked all travellers from Madrid to self-isolate for 14 days, adding ‘his hand would not tremble’ in applying new or wider-reaching measures.
There are now 36 coronavirus patients in Murcia. The last seven have all come from Madrid.
