Urgent Tests to be Carried out on ALL the Elderly in Neighbourhood of Spain’s Murcia as Cases Continue to Surge

By Tony Winterburn • Published: 10 Aug 2020 • 13:07

Mass testing begins in Murcia tomorrow. image: Twitter

THE health service will carry out PCR on all the elderly and people around them in the Carmen neighbourhood of Murcia it was announced today after cases of the coronavirus are still rising fast.

A Covid point will be established starting tomorrow, Tuesday in the neighbourhood health centre to be able to perform these tests more quickly, as announced by José Carlos Vicente, general director of Public Health. In order to perform the PCR, it will be necessary to make an online appointment before going to the health centre.

This new measure will be linked to the close monitoring of quarantines prescribed by doctors by the Local Police of Murcia and the Social Policy services of the Murcia City Council, given the socioeconomic characteristics of the neighbourhood. It is about reproducing the close monitoring model of the cases that was established last week in Mazarrón which is yielding results and therefore will be replicated in other territories.

New cases in the region of Murcia continue to rise and during the weekend two consecutive days with cases just under 100 on each (99 on Saturday and 91 on Sunday) added 190 new cases to the running total, bringing the number of active cases in the region to 1074.

The largest increases were in the municipalities known to have significant outbreaks; Murcia City 49, Lorca 33, Totana 24, Cartagena 13 and Mazarrón 10. The remaining cases are spread around the region in smaller quantities. These figures are published on Wednesdays. The total number of deaths remain unchanged at 151, the same level as throughout July.