Since the start of the year, Portugal has been very hard hit by a third wave of coronavirus contaminations.

So to help it, Germany sent 26 nursing soldiers who take care of an intensive care unit in a Lisbon hospital.

Two of the eight beds managed by this unit already accommodate a patient. 

REPORTAGE

"For the military, this is a first."

As the third wave of the Covid-19 epidemic continues to hit Portugal very hard, Germany has decided to send 26 military caregivers to take care of a new intensive care unit in Lisbon.

Among them, Colonel Evers.

At the microphone of Europe 1, he justifies this unprecedented collaboration by the gravity of the situation and the tension that reigns within the Portuguese hospital system.

"Here, the enemy is invisible but extremely dangerous," he recalls at the microphone of Europe 1.

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"We are trained to manage crises"

"Our unit is capable of deploying anywhere in the world, we are trained to manage crises. Personally, I was in Afghanistan a few months ago," he adds.

With him, 25 other compatriots took care of eight intensive care beds in a hospital in Lisbon.

Barely installed, two patients have already been transferred to this unit from overwhelmed hospitals in the region.

The remaining six are expected to receive one patient each by the end of the week. 

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German aid to Portugal is very precious, while the country, reconfigured, on Saturday passed the bar of 900 patients in intensive care, a record.

Across the country, there are only a dozen intensive care beds left, proof of the violence of this third wave, which should peak next week.

These German soldiers must take turns with the sick until the end of March, while the Portuguese hospitals take their heads out of the water.