In addition to the Alcoy residence that is now under the control of the Ministry, in the last few hours four other centres in the province of Alicante have been placed under the supervision of The Ministry of Health. At least one of these is in Elche.

This step is taken either because there have been confirmed cases of the disease or because the health personnel attending to them are in quarantine for having come into contact with a suspected case. There are two other residences in Valencia and another in Castellón in the same situation.

The Minister, Ana Barceló, said that the coronavirus outbreak at the Domus Vi geriatric centre in Alcoy continues to deteriorate and already affects 72 residents, representing more than half of the 134 that are in the home. The figure presents an increase of 14 on the previous day.

The alcoyano home is now under the supervision of the Virgen de los Lirios Hospital.

The number of quarantined workers at the centre has also increased, they have gone from 10 to 15 in a single day.

Barceló, avoided talking about the deceased in the centre, despite the demands for information from the relatives. Its spokesman, José Luis García, said that in the last few days there have been five deaths in the nursing home, the last two on Thursday. “We want the authorities to tell us whether or not it is due to the coronavirus,” he said. “Things look very bad at the moment,” García added, “we feel totally abandoned due to the lack of information.”