Spanish police have urged citizens to remain indoors during the COVID-19 state of emergency after encountering one citizen on the street dressed as a dinosaur.
Video of the incident was posted to Twitter yesterday by Murcia police department, showing an unidentified citizen being stopped by a unit of officers who were attempting to enforce the government's plan to limit the spread of the disease—caused by a novel coronavirus that is now spreading globally.
On Friday, Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez imposed a 15-day state of alarm that restricted free movement apart from traveling to work, food, health medication or for caregiving.
One small exception was that pets can be taken out on short walks, but police noted on social media that dinosaurs are not considered to be included in this category.
"During state of alarm, walking of pets is allowed if accompanied by one person, always short walks so they can relieve themselves. Having a Tyrannosaurus rex is not covered. #stayathome," Murcia Police wrote on Twitter alongside the footage, which has since attracted tens of thousands of shares and likes on the platform.
The clip—which was edited to include the theme tune to the film franchise Jurassic Park—proved to be one small lighthearted moment during a challenging time for the country's authorities.
COVID-19 has caused more than 340 deaths in the country at the time of writing, according to a map tracking the outbreak that is being maintained by Johns Hopkins University. The metrics suggest that Spain, with close to 10,000 confirmed cases, is the fourth worst-hit nation in the world.
Sánchez's wife, Begoña Gómez, was previously confirmed to have contracted the illness, newspaper El País reported. Sports and arts events have all been suspended, as have schools.
Law enforcement did not provide further details of why the citizen in the dinosaur outfit had been roaming Murcia's streets during the state of emergency, but a second video published to Twitter yesterday indicated that it may have actually been an attempt at a preventative measure.
— E. R.R.E. (@Elire72) March 16, 2020
In that footage, a person in the same dinosaur outfit can be seen shuffling slowly along the sidewalk with a bag of rubbish in hand, before hurling it into a large waste bin and running back down the street.
In a separate tweet yesterday about the state-of-alarm lockdown, Murcia police wrote: "Remember that you can go outside during the ESSENTIAL TIME so that our pet meets his needs and do not forget to collect their droppings. Do not use your pet as an excuse to break the rules."
Globally, COVID-19 has infected more than 182,000 people and caused over 7,100 deaths. Close to 80,000 people have recovered from the illness. The outbreak has disrupted businesses and shook the top financial markets, with employees around the world currently being urged to work from home.
After emerging from China's Wuhan city late last year, Europe was recently deemed to have become the new "epicenter" of the outbreak by the director-general of the World Health Organization (WHO).
"We will overcome this emergency by relying on advice from science and with support from all of the resources of the state," the Spanish prime minister said in a conference last Friday, announcing the new state of alarm plans that have since gripped the nation. "But it is also undeniable that we will manage it sooner, and with the least human, economic and social damage possible if we do it together."
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This article first appeared on Newsweek.
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