COVID Migrant Escapes From Hospital With Tied Bed Sheets

A 25-year-old Algerian migrant who tested positive for COVID-19 after arriving illegally in Spain has escaped from hospital quarantine by tying bed sheets together to drop down from an upper floor.

The Algerian national arrived at the port of Cartagena in the south-eastern Spanish region of Murcia illegally where he tested positive for the virus and was sent to the nearby Hospital General Universitario Santa Lucia.

According to local media, a total of 108 migrants arrived in Cartagena on board 10 boats on 5th July and eight of them tested positive for COVID-19.

The eight infected patients were sent to the Santa Lucia hospital while the other migrants were reportedly quarantined in several properties in Cartagena and Murcia under the watchful eye of Spanish police officers.

However, the National Police confirmed that no officers were present at the hospital when the 25-year-old Algerian escaped.

The unnamed man reportedly fashioned a ‘rope’ from bed sheets which he used to climb down from an upper-floor ledge.

According to local media, Civil Guard officers soon found the infected man in the town of Escombreras, about four kilometres (2.5 miles) from the hospital.

Meanwhile, reports said that residents in the small fishing village of Los Nietos protested against the presence of some of the migrants there due to fears of infection.

According to the latest figures from the Johns Hopkins University, Spain has registered 250,545 cases of COVID-19 and 28,385 related deaths.