The members of the Armed Forces who collaborated with the Ministry of Health of the Government of the Canary Islands in the epidemiological surveillance of covid-19 are withdrawing from these tasks after 18 months of work, given the improvement of the situation, according to the Canary Islands Command.
In a statement, the Army emphasizes that its contribution to these contagion tracking tasks is only suspended, because its units are willing to join them again "at any time" if necessary.
It also recalls that they have also participated in the fight against covid-19 with six mobile vaccination teams, which have collaborated with Health in Tenerife and Gran Canaria.
During the so-called "Baluarte mission", the Armed Forces have deployed up to 68 trackers on the islands, and at the moment 36 were still operational.
Throughout these 18 months, the military trackers have been integrated into health teams in Lanzarote (Molina Orosa Hospital), Fuerteventura (General Hospital and Primary care centers in Puerto Rosario and Corralejo), Gran Canaria (Municipal Library and Public Health Directorate) and Tenerife (Exhibition Center and Public Health Directorate). And, during the sixth wave, they also carried out their work at the General Hospital of La Palma.
Both the Tracker Teams and the Mobile Vaccination Teams have been made up of personnel from the Army, the Air Force and the Navy.
Thus, more than 120 soldiers from the Army have participated in tracking tasks, and 15 soldiers as part of the Vaccination Teams; 12 trackers from the Air Force have participated, providing support in Lanzarote, in addition to four soldiers who have formed a vaccination team in Gran Canaria; and the Navy has provided 30 soldiers in tracking tasks at the Municipal Library of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.
Military trackers in the Canary Islands have intervened in more than 44,000 positive cases by PCR of covid-19, which have involved some 56,500 calls to close contacts and 39,700 follow-up calls for cases or contacts, in addition to providing nearly 9,800 appointments for vaccination.
Mobile vaccination teams have inoculated 12,220 vaccines on the islands, 4,666 in Gran Canaria and 7,554 in Tenerife.