Turkey blocks delivery of respirators from China to Spain: Spanish Foreign Minister

Spain’s Foreign Minister has recently announced that the Turkish government blocked a plane carrying respirators en route from China to Spain amid coronavirus pandemic.
Saturday, 04 April 2020 17:24

Spanish Foreign Minister Arancha González Laya held a press meeting on Friday, announcing that the Turkish government blocked a plane in the Turkish capital city of Ankara since last Saturday as the plane was carrying a shipment of respirators from China to the coronavirus hard-hit Spain. 

Laya went on to say that so far they have failed to receive the respirators that they bought from China to help tackle the COVID-19 outbreak in Spain, adding that Ankara blocked the shipment en route to Spain “for the treatment of their own patients”. 

Laya said that she discussed the situation three times with Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu in order to unblock the shipment as the Spanish Health Minister also talked with his counterpart Fahrettin Koca.

The Spanish Foreign Minister noted that the Turkish government guaranteed the delivery of the medical materials to Spain in the upcoming days. According to the Spanish officials, the respirators had been purchased from China and already paid so as to fight the coronavirus pandemic in Spanish cities. 

Spain is among the most affected countries in the world due to COVID-19 as the number of confirmed cases is over 124,000 while the death toll has reached 11,744. As of April 3, the number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Turkey rose to 20,921 while the death toll reached 425.