Chelsea star Pedro reveals agony of being in coronavirus lockdown in London while children are trapped in Spain

Posted Sunday, March 29, 2020 by Thesun.co.uk

CHELSEA star Pedro opened up on his agony with the coronavirus lockdown preventing him seeing his children.

The winger, 32, is in London but his family are back in his homeland, where the virus is causing devastation.

Pedro is struggling during the coronavirus lockdown because his children are across in SpainCredit: Instagram / @_pedro17_

The Chelsea star is having to contact his family through phone and video calls because he is not allowed to go back to his homelandCredit: Instagram / @_pedro17_

In an interview on the Chelsea club website, Pedro said: "It's a very delicate, complex situation. A critical situation because there have been lots of cases of infection, especially in Madrid and Catalonia, which are probably the most affected regions, but now it has spread across the country.

"They are in total lockdown in their houses so they are living through a crisis situation. It's also an economic crisis, of course, but at the moment that is secondary. The most important thing is that people stay at home with their family.

"The police and army are on the streets and the situation is maybe more controlled than here in the UK but we are living in a situation of chaos and crisis because of this pandemic.

"It's hard not to be seeing your children, your parents, your siblings, not having them close by at a complicated, difficult time for us all. We are in permanent contact on the phone, keeping in touch about what we are up to in isolation and trying to be as close as possible.

"Of course, we would have liked to be there but for safety reasons that isn't possible so for now we are going to stay where we are and try to get through it as best we can."

As he continues to keep up the exercise in order to keep fit for when the Premier League does return, Pedro realises the issues the global pandemic is currently raising are far more important.

Pedro has his own foundation in Spain which is already helping but now he is calling on the sporting world to contribute.

He added: "I think the whole sporting community can help, not just football, and there are many areas where it's possible to help in some way.

"People can give money, even if it's a small amount, because that can help a lot of people.

"Clearly there have been lots of people in football and sport making donations like Leo Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Robert Lewandowski and other players who have gone out and given money, not only in Spain but around the world.

"Pep Guardiola has also donated one million euros to fight coronavirus so lots of people in sport are helping with the situation.

"I'm also making a lot of calls with the foundation to see how we can help the biggest possible number of people with what they are going through.

"That's our daily life at the moment. We are trying everything to keep entertained, watching TV series and films. We're doing what I imagine everyone is doing in their homes to cope with this situation as best they can.

"We know we are going through a very difficult situation, in which lots of people have even lost relatives. It's a delicate and difficult time for everyone. I hope we can see each other soon at Stamford Bridge and go back to playing and doing what we like best."

The Blues hero, who is out of contract on June 30, is keeping in touch with his Chelsea and international team-mates in order to remain positive and supportive.

Pedro said: "I've spoken to some of my team-mates. I've been on the phone to Kepa [Arrizabalaga] and Marcos Alonso. I've also called Jordi Alba from Barcelona.

"I'm in touch with other players too, to see how they are handling the situation, with players who are alone, which can sometimes be difficult.

"These are tough times and we are in constant contact. I'm also speaking a lot to Azpi [Cesar Azpilicueta] and we're always following the news coming out from the club, the training that we have to do at home."

Spain is among the worst-affected countries in the world - surpassing China for the number of deaths earlier this week and now only behind Italy.

In the past 24 hours, a further 832 people died after contracting Covid-19, taking the total to 5,690.

An extra 8,189 cases were confirmed in that time period meaning 72,248 people have caught the bug in the country.

Professor Julio Mayol, medical director at the Clinico San Carlos Hospital in Madrid, told Sky News: "It is a bad situation, it is really bad and it is getting worse day by day, because the number of positive Covid-19 patients is increasing.

"We have a large number of patients, and the problem is we can't increase the room available.

"We can provide them with more beds, but we need personal protection equipment (PPE), and there is a global shortage, and this is makes it very difficult for us to send healthcare workers to battle on the frontline without the adequate equipment."