MADRID (Reuters) – A 99-year old woman who became Spain’s third coronavirus death was a resident at a Madrid nursing home where at least nine people have been diagnosed with the infection, local health authorities said on Thursday.
Eight residents of the La Paz home and a health worker have tested positive for coronavirus, as well as the deceased woman, a spokesman for Madrid’s health authority said.
The social affairs authority, which manages Madrid’s nursing homes, had earlier put the number of positive cases at 11.
Tests will be carried out on the rest of the residents at the care home while all planned activities have been suspended in an effort to limit infection, the authority said.
Preventative measures, such as setting up isolation zones and barring people with symptoms from communal areas, will be rolled out across the Spanish capital’s network of care homes.
Madrid has emerged as the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak in Spain, with 90 cases out of 234 across the country, according to figures from the health ministry. Three people have died of the coronavirus in the southern European country.
On the Spanish island of Tenerife, Reuters TV footage showed several busloads of guests leaving a hotel where they had been locked down since Feb. 25 after several cases of the virus were detected there.
Canaries health authorities said that by 1700 GMT, 443 people had departed since the lockdown was declared, leaving around 400 guests still inside.
Before gaining clearance to leave, guests must be symptom-free and have tested negative for the virus within 24 hours of their departure. Their home government must arrange transport to the country of origin that complies with health protocols.
(Reporting by Nathan Allen; Editing by Ingrid Melander and Mark Heinrich)
