A state of alarm has been imposed
all over Spain to stop the spread
of the coronavirus and the
country is immersed in a grave
health crisis of unforeseeable
consequences. Its population of 47
million people are isolated in their homes
in an enormous confinement operation.
Not only has this measure brought the
economy to a standstill but it is also
taking a psychological toll on people
and their families as the weeks go by.
Worldwide, the pandemic has shaken
most of humanity: it has hit the economy,
changed the daily lives of millions of
people, put entire regions into quarantine
and rekindled citizens’ ancestral fears.
The origin can be found in a minuscule
agent: the SARS-CoV-2 virus, identified at
the end of 2019 in a market in Wuhan, a
populous city in central China, which is
the cause of the COVID-19 or coronavirus
disease. From there, the outbreak has
spread rapidly throughout the entire world
in recent weeks. On March 11th, the World
Health Organization (WHO) elevated
the public health emergency caused by
the virus to the status of a pandemic. At
the time of writing, more than 1,200,000
people were infected and 70,000 had
died from the pandemic, which is present
in more than 200 countries and territories
around the world. In Spain —together with
Italy, the epicentre of the crisis in Europe—
over 135,000 people have been infected
and more than 13,000 have lost their lives.
The Armed Forces, who in the days
prior to the declaration of the state of
alarm had already suspended all of their
exercises and manoeuvres to avoid the
movement of troops that could lead to the
spread of the disease, are collaborating
with all their available capabilities in the
fight against the pandemic. With Air
General Miguel Ángel Villarroya, Chief
of the Defence Staff (JEMAD), as single
command, the Armed Forces have
collaborated with the Security Forces
and Corps in the control and surveillance
of public spaces; they have disinfected
essential services facilities; reinforced
civilian medical capabilities with the
mobilization of the military healthcare and
pharmacy; helped set up field hospitals
and medicalised hotels; airlifted medical
supplies and helped distribute them;
transferred patients between hospitals
From left to right, the Ministers of the Interior, Health, Defence and Transport, who appeared on March 15th to explain the initial measures to reinforce the state of alarm.
April 2020 Revista Española de Defensa 9
Pool Moncloa/Borja Puig de la Bellacasa