ARCHIVED - Murcia at low risk of coronavirus contagion says regional government minister

Facemask panic buying continues despite WHO recommendations and shops are running out of disinfectant gel

Manuel Villegas, the minister for Health in the regional government, stated on Thursday that the Region of Murcia is at relatively “low” risk of contagion as the coronavirus begins to spread throughout Spain, while at the same time repeating his plea for members of the public not to succumb to the fad for “panic buying” in respect of facemasks which, he says, are of hardly any use in providing protection.

The latest news from Murcia is that since last weekend 22 people have been tested for the coronavirus in the Region, all of them proving negative.

Unfortunately, the shortage of facemasks has become so acute that health professionals in the Arrixaca and Reina Sofía hospitals in Murcia report that stocks are running out, and they have been removed from wards due to them continually being removed without authorization. Normally the whole of the Murcia health service uses around 20,000 masks a week, but the figure has tripled in recent days according to some reports and the obvious conclusion, La Verdad reports, is that people are taking as many as possible home with them.

Similar disappearances have been noted at hospitals in Madrid and Málaga, where one doctor was found to be removing 300 masks in order to distribute them to people in his home town, and in some cases online sale prices have been raised from around 2 euros to 60 euros by those attempting to cash in on the escalation of the epidemic!

But Sr Villegas reiterates the advice given by the World Health Organization, which is that the masks do not provide efficient protection against infection and that they must be worn only by patients who are already ill, and by medical professionals. “It is not useful for people to wear facemasks in the street”, the minister insists, although “we do recommend that people who are sneezing and running a high temperature where them in order to avoid infecting others”.

On the other hand, though, the health authorities do agree that frequent hand-washing is recommendable, especially after frequenting public places, and while they continue to call for calm the bulk buying of disinfectant gels has left supermarket shelves empty of these products in many places.

Meanwhile, looking further ahead, the potential consequences for the economy and, in particular, the tourism sector, are already being felt. Stock exchange indexes around the world have been dropping as international trade and production facilities are hit – in South Korea it is reported that entire car plants have been closed due to cases of the coronavirus among the workforce - and Madrid has by no means been exempt as around 10 per cent has been wiped off the value of IBEX-35 shares since Monday.

In the tourism sector, meanwhile, the high profile of the cases in Tenerife which resulted in around 1,000 people being confined to their hotel has caused serious worries over how the situation will develop in the next few months. During the winter the Canary Islands are the most popular international tourist destination in Spain as people seek the sun, but throughout Spain there are worries that the “fear factor” could prove to be even more contagious than the virus itself, leading to travellers boycotting certain destinations, a concern which was expressed on Thursday by the president of the regional government of Andalucía.

Interestingly, in the Region of Murcia and the Costa Cálida some sources report that coronavirus is not so much of a worry for the tourism sector. Jesús Jiménez of the Hostemur federation stated on Thursday that “tourism in the Region faces a virus more dangerous than Covid-19”, referring to the condition of the Mar Menor: things could change, of course, but to date hotels in Murcia have reported no cancellations due to the spread of coronavirus, while numerous have resulted from the condition of the lagoon, which despite being completely safe for bathing is affected by green algal growth, making swimming a far from appealing prospect in many areas!

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