COVID-19 deaths in Spain rise above 10,000: Five key developments | Spain News | Al Jazeera
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In about-turn, Catalonia seeks Spanish military help
The separatist government of Spain’s Catalonia region abandoned its initial reluctance and asked the national military on Thursday for assistance in tackling the coronavirus pandemic.
Catalonia is a badly hit region with more than 2,000 deaths and about 2,000 people in intensive care.
Last month, an official of the Catalonia government, whose independence quest has created political turmoil in recent years, said military help was “totally unnecessary”.
However, Alba Verges, a senior health official in the northeastern region, told Catalunya Radio that assistance from military health personnel would now be welcome.
“We need hands. Hands also means that if [the military] has doctors and nurses that they make them available to us,” she said.