Coronavirus: in Bolivia, the homes of patients who do not respect confinement will be designated

Bolivia, which saw the number of patients explode despite strict confinement, was ready to institute moral stigma. The authorities of the cities of La Paz, the capital, and El Alto will designate with signs the houses of patients with coronavirus who refuse to confine themselves.

"For people who have coronavirus and who do not want to isolate themselves, we are going to put a sign on their house that will say: there is covid-19 here," said Minister of Public Works Ivan Arias. The country faces numerous violations of health measures by infected people, which contributes to the spread of the virus.

Ivan Arias gave in particular the example of a family which, while knowing to be infected, signed a declaration on the honor affirming the opposite in order to be able to board a domestic flight. Following their journey, the entire crew of the aircraft had to be quarantined. "We can no longer bear that irresponsible people are endangering the lives of the population," he said bluntly.

Medical teams went from house to house

In this Andean country of 11.7 million inhabitants, the coronavirus killed 376 people and contaminated nearly 11,000 people. More than double the 5,000 patients counted on May 21. Despite the total containment of the population decided on March 10 and the closure of borders and airspace, the interim government has not succeeded in halting the spread of the virus on its territory.

To limit the contagions in the most affected regions of Beni and Santa Cruz, medical teams, police and soldiers went "from house to house" to find infected people, with the aim of transferring them to health centers. isolation and hospitals. But it was not enough.

On Saturday, four of the nine regions of the state announced that they would extend containment measures, unlike the government, which wanted to loosen the noose on the economy on Monday. The economic engine of Bolivia, the Santa Cruz region (east), which has about 2.7 million inhabitants, alone represents nearly 70% of people infected nationally. She extended the confinement until June 14.

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The Andean region of Potosí (southwest, bordering Argentina) also decided to extend the confinement during the first 15 days of June, announced the mayor of this city Luis Alberto Lopez. In Tarija, in the south, with 24 cases out of half a million inhabitants, a committee decided to "maintain the state of health emergency until June 30".