Madrid, June 30 (RHC)-- The Minister of Health of Andorra, Joan Martínez Benazet, praised the work carried out by the Cuban medical brigade that collaborated with this European country for three months in the fight against the SARS-Cov-2 coronavirus.

"It has been a luxury to have the Cuban medical brigade in Andorra," the minister emphasized in a video sent to Prensa Latina news agency from the Panorama Hotel, which during this time welcomed the 39 health professionals from Cuba.

Martinez Benazet went to the hotel in Andorra la Vieja, the capital of the Principality, to say goodbye to the members of the Henry Reeve International Contingent who will return to the island in a few hours after completing their mission.

The Andorran health official said that when the team of Cuban professionals arrived in late March, the Pyrenean nation was already badly hit by COVID-19, the highly contagious respiratory disease caused by the new coronavirus.

"We had an infection rate of 1,100 people per 100,000 inhabitants, equivalent to those in the most affected cities in Europe," he recalled.

However, he considered that thanks to a combination of factors it was possible to control the virus quickly and achieve one of the lowest death rates in the environment of this small state, with some 77,000 inhabitants and located between Spain and France.

Among these elements he mentioned the discipline of the citizens, who followed the guidelines of the health authorities and were confined to their homes, a health system with a certain robustness and the reinforcement of that system with the doctors and nurses of Cuba.