The Spanish government said they had switched to "war economy". The Spanish Ministry of Defense has asked NATO to provide adequate support to fight the pandemic. The term war economy is used to describe the rapid reorganization of a nation's production and distribution capacity in response to a direct military threat that undermines its existence.
Spanish officials announced yesterday that the COVID-19 disease rate in the country is growing faster than in Italy. Despite the nationwide blockade that started on March 14, coronavirus infections exceeded 42.000 yesterday, compared to 25.000 on Saturday. Spanish medical facilities have announced 514 new deaths over a 24-hour period, bringing the total number of COVID-19-related deaths to 2696.
There are many deaths because in Spain, as in most countries, there is a lack of personal protective equipment (Dpi) for healthcare workers and respiratory support equipment for treatment for patients.
Tuesday afternoon, the Euro-Atlantic Disaster Response Coordination Center of the NATO (EADRCC) confirmed that he had received "a request for international assistance from the Spanish armed forces".
The EADRCC said in a press release that the Spanish military had asked its "international partners to provide assistance to the Ministry of Defense of Spain". Spanish media reported that the request includes "450.000 respirators, 500.000 rapid test kits, 500 ventilators and 1,5 million surgical masks".
Meanwhile, the Spanish armed forces have worked hard to convert the ice ring into Madrid's famous Palacio de Hielo shopping center. in a makeshift morgue, in order to cope with the expected increase in deaths in the coming days.
The Spanish capital has suffered over 30 percent of all coronavirus-related deaths in the past week. Over the weekend, a nearby convention center was converted into a hospital, capable of accommodating 5.500 patients.
In neighboring France, the army also set up a field hospital on French territory, for the first time in history after World War II.