United against the virus

For the last few weeks the whole world has been facing its biggest crisis since World War II. We all knew something like this could happen one day, a big pandemia that would affect us all. The risk was included in all our contingency plans. Yet, now that more than half of the world is suffering it from their homes, it is still hard to believe.

The coronavirus spread poses an extraordinary challenge which requires a coordinated and ambitious action from a united world. The Government of Spain is fully aware of that, and is working very hard to be able to give a united answer to all the questions that arise, along with its European Union partners.

Spain has been severely hit by COVID-19. Even though the daily figures of infected and fatalities have already been dropping for the last two weeks, the official figures talk about over 180,000 people infected while roughly 20,000 have already lost their lives. The Spanish Government is aware that these figures might not be totally accurate as unfortunately for some time it was not possible to test every suspected case. The Government is working on this, and it has increased its testing capacity to have a more accurate picture of the spread of the virus in Spain, so as to be able to design more accurate strategies against it.

Over these weeks it has been really touching to see the reaction of the people to the dramatic situation that we are experiencing. Spain is well known to be a very open and sociable country, in which people are used to going out and meeting friends and family in restaurants and bars almost on a daily basis, and in which going for a walk is part of daily life. However, during the confinement (which was established almost at the same time as in the Philippines and will last at least until April 26, although it could be extended further), people have been behaving in an extraordinary way, showing an incredibly high social conscience. The number of private initiatives undertaken to try and ease our confinement is overwhelming: from solidarity groups bringing food to the poorer or elderly who cannot go out to buy, to the daily applause from windows and balconies to support the frontliners against the virus, to big companies putting all their logistic power and knowhow to the service of the State to facilitate the purchase and production of much needed medical supplies.

In the midst of the crisis, Spain is now focused in recovering from this terrible pandemia which has affected the health of many and also the economy of many more. The Spanish Government is already addressing its economic impact in different ways. In fact, some economic activity has already resumed, as several sectors have gone back to work, and there are several measures being implemented to help those more severely hit like those who have lost their jobs, the self-employed or the small and medium companies.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Spain has been very busy these past few weeks also helping stranded Spanish tourists in different parts of the world to go back to Spain. In the Philippines, the Embassy has been helping several hundred Spaniards and other Europeans get on commercial and repatriation flights, and will hopefully finalize the return operation with a repatriation flight scheduled on April 23. I would like to thank the Filipino authorities for their continued support on this issue over the past month.

Spain is essentially a country of solidarity, and a country that truly believes in cooperation between countries and institutions as the only way to achieve significant goals. As we speak, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation of Spain is already working in new programs that will be put in place as soon as the crisis allows us, to help other countries also affected by COVID-19, such as the Philippines, recover from this crisis.

As in many other areas in which a common approach is the only solution to solve common problems, the fight against COVID-19 has to be undertaken through multilateral strategies. Now more than ever, on the year of the 75th anniversary of the creation of the United Nations, Spain believes that multilateralism is the best way to overcome the coronavirus.

Soon, our two countries will reconnect again for the good sake of the Filipino and Spanish people.

*      *      *

(Jorge Moragas is Ambassador of Spain to the Philippines)