MADRID, March 17 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese community in the region of Aragon, northern Spain, have made a donation of medical and sanitary equipment to local authorities to help the fight against COVID-19.
According to the regional newspaper El Heraldo de Aragon, the Chinese Overseas Association in the city of Zaragoza handed over the shipment of 15,123 facemasks, 5,544 pairs of gloves and 1,254 bottles of alcohol and disinfectant gels at the Police Headquarters in the city.
The association ordered the shipment from the Chinese city of Yiwu 10 days earlier. The president of the association Xinte Wang said the arrival was just in time.
"The aircraft arrived in Barcelona on Sunday morning and we are able to go to the airport. We had to go quickly because the Spanish government had declared a 'State of Alarm'," he said.
According to Wang, the shipment from Yiwu was not the only donation the Chinese community had made.
"We told everyone we know that they had to take the items they had in their homes and in their shops to donate to the people of Aragon, who have welcomed us and made us part of their community," he said.
Part of this donation was given to the Hospital Clinico in Zaragoza, while some others were donated at the Ministry of Health offices in the city.
"We are Chinese, but we have to be united against this illness. If there is a serious problem, then we have to help and it is our duty to help all of Aragonese society," concluded Wang.
The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Spain rose to 11,178 on Tuesday, an increase of almost 2,000 from Monday's, the Ministry of Health, Consumer Affairs and Social Welfare confirmed.
