About 100 detainees from six prisons in Ecuador have started making coffins for victims of the coronavirus, the Ecuadorian prison administration said on Thursday.
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These coffins are particularly intended for the region of Guayas and its capital Guayaquil, hard hit by the epidemic of Covid-19. They are made from wood from illegal logging and seized by the Minister of the Environment, who plans to deliver approximately 734 cubic meters. The poorest families in Guayaquil will benefit, said a spokesman for the prison administration.
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Some 30 coffins have already been made at Ambato prison in the Andes, to be sent to the province of Guayas, where 68% of cases of virus infection are found, and more than half of the deaths in the country.
Ecuador has recorded some 4,965 cases and 272 deaths since the start of the epidemic.