Coronavirus: ‘Come home,’ Chinese tell relatives in Spain as cases jump
- With more than 2,100 confirmed cases and 47 deaths, country has overtaken France as Europe’s second-largest coronavirus hub after Italy
- Some Chinese shop owners closing stores and thinking of returning to China, were number of new infections has fallen drastically
In a usually bustling Madrid street popular with the city’s growing Chinese community, 14 of 17 Chinese-owned shops were closed on Wednesday, their shutters pulled down or notes stuck to window fronts saying the owners were away.
“I wanted to close as well but I’m staying open because people need masks, disinfectant and wipes,” said Luna, 40, who works in one of the few Chinese stores still open.
“When my stock runs out, I’m closing,” added Luna, who stopped taking her two-year-old daughter with her to the shop for fear she could be infected by the coronavirus.
Talking through a face mask, she wiped the counter clean with an alcohol spray.
Across the Usera neighbourhood and elsewhere in Madrid, many Chinese shop owners have either closed or said they were considering doing so. Most other stores across the city were still open despite a steep rise in coronavirus cases in Spain.
“It’s to protect clients and our workers too,” said 29-year-old Aurora Li, the Chinese owner of a cosmetics shop, when asked why so many Chinese-owned stores were shutting.