# Sports

Barcelona donates 30,000 masks to Catalonia government to combat COVID-19 pandemic

Earlier this week, Barcelona had informed that all the professional players, including Lionel Messi, and the non-playing staff will have their wages cut.

SNS | New Delhi | March 29, 2020 1:52 pm

Barcelona donates 30,000 masks to Catalonia government to combat COVID-19 pandemic

La Liga giants Barcelona, in association with an insurance company, have delivered 30,000 masks to the Catalonia government to help in the fight against the ongoing crisis caused by the deadly outbreak of the novel coronavirus.

“The club has put itself at the service of the health authorities to help to fulfill and enforce all its instructions, recommendations and orders to combat contagion of the virus and alleviate its effects as much as possible,” the club said in an official statement.

Earlier this week, Barcelona had informed that all the professional players, including Lionel Messi, and the non-playing staff will face compulsory salary reduction to reduce the financial stress the club is enduring due to the lockdown caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

All football activities in Spain are shut as the country remains under lockdown for the last two weeks. After Italy, Spain is the worst-hit country with more than 73,300 reported cases and over 5,900 fatalities.

“Faced with this scenario, the Board of Directors has decided to implement a series of measures to mitigate its effects and reduce the economic effects of this crisis,” a statement on the official website of Barcelona said.

“Basically it is a reduction of the working day, imposed by the circumstances and the protection measures carried out, and, as a consequence, the proportional reduction of the remuneration provided for in the respective contracts,” the statement added.

Meanwhile, other than reducing the wages of the staff, the Catalan giants decided to make available the club facilities, both sporting and annexes, to the Health Department to combat the deadly coronavirus.