German team leaves Lisbon after virus aid mission

A German team of military medics and health professionals returned to their homeland Friday after assisting overstretched hospitals in Portugal battling a surge of the coronavirus in early February.

The leaving ceremony was attended by Portuguese defense minister Joao Cravinho, who praised officials for their work in saving lives away from their homes.

Cravinho said Portugal will ''always be grateful'' for the assistance received.

The German team had come to try to help Portugal coping with shortage of human resources in its public health system, which has been stretched to the limit after a January spike fuelled by a fast-spreading COVID-19 variant first identified in England.

The January COVID-19 surge made Portugal the worst-hit country in the world by size of the population.

German Ambassador to Portugal Martin Ney called the project a ''project of European solidarity,'' praising the ''excellent'' relationship between Germany and Portugal.