Madrid-o-Phobia Must Stop Says Fernando Simon as Spain’s Capital Faces Backlash on Social Media

Madrid was undoubtedly the epicentre of the coronavirus crisis in Spain and now the capital is facing backlash for its high mortality and infection rate, as critics take to social media and voice their ‘Madrid-o-phobia.’

THE Director of the Coordination Centre for Health Alerts and Emergencies of the Ministry of Health in Spain, Fernando Simon, has asked residents to be more “sensible” in regard to the population in Madrid which has had a very favourable epidemiological evolution.

Currently, Madrid is in an even better situation than other provinces, in terms of having controlled the propagation of the virus, and therefore there is “no need to be afraid.”

This sentiment has been communicated by Simon due to the recent trending hashtags and topics of conversation on social media in Spain which says, ‘Sick of Madrid.’

On Monday ‘Sick of Madrid’ became a trending topic on Twitter, in a bid to ostracise the capital from the rest of Spain, which similarly occurred at the beginning of the pandemic.

Madrid has a bad reputation, not only because their city was the epicentre of the virus in Spain but also because when the quarantine was first enacted in the capital many residents fled to their beach houses in Costa del Sol or Costa Blanca to ‘vacation’ rather than take lockdown seriously.

Recently, many Madrileños have been seen coming down to Marbella in the Costa del Sol which is still prohibited until June 21 when mobility restrictions are lifted.