MADRID, March 19 (Xinhua) -- "We want to thank the Chinese community in Zaragoza for the donation of a shipment of facemasks, gloves, thermometers... There is no doubt that difficult situations help promote solidarity and this is a clear example. A thousand thanks!"
That is a tweet posted by the City Hall of Zaragoza, in norther Spain, after it received the donation for hospitals and police force from the city's Chinese community.
According to the regional newspaper El Heraldo de Aragon, the Chinese Overseas Association in the city of Zaragoza on Tuesday handed over the shipment of 15,123 face masks, 5,544 pairs of gloves and 1,254 bottles of alcohol and disinfectant gels at the Police Headquarters in the city.
Meanwhile, the first aid package from China to Spain arrived at Zaragoza airport on Tuesday, with a plane from Shanghai carrying a further 500,000 facemasks sponsored by the Jack Ma Foundation and the Alibaba Foundation.
In Madrid, members of the Chinese community have donated 16,000 facemasks, 15,000 bottles of hand cleaning gels and 5,000 protective suits to health authorities.
Facemasks are currently in short supply and desperately needed for medical workers in Spain.
It is also expected that a donation from the Spanish office of China Construction Bank (Europe) will arrive in Spain in the coming days.
According to a statement by the bank, it has "bought a large quantity of high-quality sanitary products " to donate.
The bank "hopes to be able to offer all possible help to contribute to the friendship between China and Spain," said the statement. "We will stop this virus together."
Spain is approaching the peak in the number of confirmed cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, the country's Minister for Health, Consumer Affairs and Social Services, Salvador Illa, said on Thursday.
Illa's ministry confirmed that the number of COVID-19 infections in Spain rose to 17,147 on Thursday.
