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ARCHIVED - Three more Covid-19 deaths in Murcia as the number of hospital patients remains steady
Defective analysis kits delay the start of mass coronavirus testing by another week
The most recent daily update on the coronavirus pandemic in the Region of Murcia, which was made public at 21.00 on Monday, provided more indications that the situation appears to be gradually being brought under control, but at the same time three more fatalities were recorded to bring the total so far up to 120.
On the positive side, the strain being placed on the resources of the regional health service (SMS) continued to ease a little, and there are now fewer Covid-19 patients in intensive care units (27) than at any point since 23rd March, a week after the national state of emergency was declared and the coronavirus lockdown came into force. The overall number of hospital patients remains more or less constant at 129 – under half of the totals which were reached in late March – but despite problems with the testing program another 38 cases were confirmed, bringing the cumulative total since the start of the pandemic in Murcia to 1,697: most of the new diagnoses related to people who were already classified as “possible” after presenting symptoms of infection, and in over half of the cases the source of contagion is known – in other words, the patients are known to have been in contact with other people infected.
During the day the number of patients declared to have overcome the virus rose by 40 to 746, leaving 875 active confirmed cases (five fewer than the day before).
Mass testing delayed again by defects in the rapid antibody kits
However, the anticipated increase in the level of testing being performed is not yet materializing in Murcia due to defects being discovered in the rapid antibody testing kits acquired by the SMS. A first batch has already been returned to the national Ministry of Health after being found to be unreliable, and now a similar misfortune has come to light in respect of 20,000 testing kits purchased by the regional health service.
These kits had been intended for use in health centres in Murcia, Molina de Segura and Cartagena but they have been found to give false positive results. In consequence the SMS will now revert to using kits supplied by the Ministry but first their efficiency has to be evaluated again, and the result is that the mass testing which it had been hoped would have started by now will be put back another week.
Brushing off the urgency of using these kits, Manuel Villegas, the minister for health in the Murcia government, reiterated that they are used not to diagnose Covid-10 but to identify those who have been infected but developed only mild symptoms or none at all. The pilot phase of the “new” kits will be carried out at the health centres of Monteagudo (Murcia), Lorca South, Mariano Yago in Yecla, Alhama de Murcia and San Javier, where the first patients have been given appointments for Tuesday morning.
Assuming all goes well, the kits will then be distributed to the 85 health centres of the Region of Murcia next week.
Meanwhile, PCR diagnosis testing has been extended to a total of 340 healthcare and medical workers who are known to have used the defective facemasks which were returned by the SMS to the Ministry of Health over the weekend.
This week the Spanish government has started assembling machinery to manufacture 10 million masks a month here in Spain which arrived from China at the weekend.
Remember: LOCKDOWN MEANS LOCKDOWN. STAY AT HOME. STAY SAFE AND DO YOUR BIT TO REDUCE THE SPREAD OF CORONAVIRUS.
Follow Murcia Today on Facebook to keep up to date with all the latest updates locally for the Region of Murcia and the main information for the rest of Spain: https://www.facebook.com/MurciaToday/.
Our local area groups are as follows. These are designed to filter locally specific information and may be used by clubs, charities, any of the businesses who work with us to ensure information is available to residents in English and for those living in the specific areas. They are not buy and sell groups, do not accept any bickering or argumentative so and so's, are not "open for any old rubbish" pages, and are not trying to compete with your local comunity groups, they are specifically for sharing good, relevant local information and we hope you will use them for that during this difficult time.
Around Mazarrón news, events and local info: Click to join
Mazarrón, Fuente Álamo, Águilas, Lorca, Totana, Puerto Lumbreras, Camposol, Alhama de Murcia. Click to join (all within a half hour drive of each other)
Mar Menor news, events and local info. Click to join (this includes all the Mar Menor municipalities and Cartagena)
North-west Murcia: Bullas, Mula, Cehegin, Caravaca, Cieza, Calasparra, Jumilla, Moratalla info. Click to join
What to do if you are in the Region of Murcia and believe you may have contracted the virus
The regional government has set up a special helpline to supply information to members of the public (900 121212) if they suspect that they may have contracted the virus rather than going straight to hospital or to a medical centre.
Sensible precautions
The advice being issued to members of the public by medical authorities all over the world coincides on the following points:
- Wash hands frequently with either soap and water or a sanitiser gel
- Catch coughs and sneezes with disposable tissues – and throw the tissues away immediately after use before immediately washing your hands!
- If you don’t have a tissue, use your sleeve – and wash the item of clothing used at the next opportunity
- AVOID touching your eyes, nose and mouth with unwashed hands
- AVOID close contact with people who are unwell
- Don´t panic!
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