Spain’s Government promises face masks in pharmacies by weekend as police beef up patrols to prevent robberies from chemist’s shops

SPAIN’S Interior Minister says face masks will be available in pharmacies by the weekend.

Commenting in a radio interview earlier today, Monday, Fernando Grande-Marlaska said he was confident the general public would be able to get hold of the protection masks within days.

He said the government is working with national producers and on imports so that “by the end of the week there is not going to be any problem of supply in pharmacies or in shops open to the public.”

Meanwhile, today law enforcement officers and Civil Protection volunteers have started giving out government-supplied face masks at key points to people who have to use public transport to get to work.

Grande-Marlaska’s assurance on mask availability comes as police beef up patrols to prevent robberies from pharmacies.

The National Police force is now carrying out 24-hour security to stop break-ins at chemist’s shops, reported police chief Maria Pilar Allue.

The announcement follows five arrests in the last week for hits on 19 pharmacies in Madrid since the coronavirus state of alarm came into force. And just last week a robber brandishing a knife stole the takings from a chemist’s in Mallorca’s capital Palma.