The teams travelled to Portugal for 15 days each--14 to 28 February and 21 February to 8 March--to support the Espírito Santo hospital in Evora in the south-east of the country.

“To overcome this global crisis, solidarity is needed more than ever. By your commitment, you have shown not only your own solidarity with Portugal, but also that of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg towards its friends,” the ministers said in a statement.

Doctors Samuel Luyasu and Modesta Dargeviciute, and nurses Monica Almeida Valente and Filomena Silva Costa volunteered to undertake the journey.

Portugal experienced one of the worst coronavirus surges in the world following the Christmas holiday, leaving its hospitals close to collapse. Germany, too, dispatched medical teams to support the fellow EU member.