Alicante Care Home Admits Shocking Death Toll During Lockdown

A care home in Alicante town of Alcoy has admitted that over 50 per cent, 73, of the total of its 140 residents died during the coronavirus lockdown.

THE DomusVi residence became the main focus of Covid-19 in the Valencian Community in the first weeks of the coronavirus pandemic.

According to an official report from the Alcoy Health Department, the “lack of disinfection and isolation zones” aggravated the spread of the coronavirus in the residence. The government has said that this high lethality must “have consequences” and now the Valencian Government has taken the first steps to reverse the administrative concession under which DomusVi manages the centre and whose contract does not expire until 2047.

The initiative came from the vice-president of the Generalitat councillor for Equality and Inclusive Policies, Mónica Oltra, who said: “the number of deaths in this residence is unaffordable.”

The process to return the home to public hands seems “complicated,” according to the mayor of the Alicante town, the socialist Toni Francés, the administrative concession was granted in 2002 for a period of 45 years.

DomusVI manages 142 residences throughout Spain and has not received any official notification from the Generalitat Valenciana regarding the reversal, although it does admit to an informative meeting. The intention of the autonomous government is to convene another meeting to address the legal situation of the residence, which is based on a report by the Department of Health of Alcoy that points out deficiencies in the centre to contain the pandemic.

According to data from the Ministry of Health, during the coronavirus pandemic, 540 people have died in residences as a result of Covid-19. Currently, there is a positive case of coronavirus in seven of the residences in the Valencian Community and three senior centres are under active surveillance of health control.

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Tony Winterburn

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