James Warren
A PLATOON of Spanish soldiers have returned to Spain to quarantine after testing positive for COVID-19 while on duty.
A statement released this morning by the Spanish Ministry of Defence said the 25 soldiers were repatriated on Saturday after deployment in the west African country of Senegal.
The soldiers were part of a 65-strong team stationed in the Marfil detachment in the town of Dakar when they began showing symptoms of the virus.
The platoon carried out PCR tests and the majority of the results came back positive.
The overwhelming majority showed little to no symptoms while two soldiers required hospital treatment but were later discharged.
The soldiers were immediately placed into quarantine for 15 days under armed forces guidelines until their transit back to Spain, where they will undergo further tests to ensure the virus has cleared.
15 of the 25 returned to Getafe air base on Saturday while the remaining 10 flew into Torrejon Airport.
If the follow-up tests show negative, a flight back to Dakar has been arranged for next Saturday to enable the soldiers to return to duty to assist with logistic support in the fight against Sahel terrorists.
