The new headquarters of the Honduran presidency in Tegucigalpa was transformed on Monday into a sorting center for suspected cases of Covid-19 and half a thousand people were already queuing in the morning, said an AFP photographer. The 24-hour sorting center was designed to receive 650 patients a day, said Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez. It is notably equipped with laboratories to carry out screening tests for coronavirus and dengue.
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The new coronavirus continues to spread rapidly in this Central American country of 9.3 million inhabitants. Official statistics show 28,090 confirmed cases and 774 deaths, but experts estimate that these figures are underestimated due to the low number of tests carried out. Three other sorting centers are already in operation in the capital and have received 7,000 patients since their opening. They provide first aid and transfer the most serious cases to hospitals.
Two sorting centers have also been opened in San Pedro Sula (north), the second city of the country, and two others in Choluteca (south) and can receive 1400 people daily. Without these facilities, hospitals would be completely submerged, according to the Honduran president, who himself was hospitalized a few days after being found to be carrying the new coronavirus. Despite the existence of these sorting centers, the capacity of most public and private hospitals is exceeded and tents had to be erected to receive the sick.
The new presidential seat, built at a cost of $ 12 million, has not yet been inaugurated. Composed of two 24-story towers, it is intended to accommodate ten thousand employees from 40 government institutions. It also includes three buildings which will house offices, a shopping center, two cultural centers and parking lots for 3,300 vehicles.