Coronavirus in Ecuador: How should a country act in which devastating hospital situations and a dramatic economic situation collide?
- A country in South America provides images as terrifying as Italy and Spain.
- In Ecuador, the fight against the corona virus * got out of control.
- The country is in a tragic dilemma.
- Our guide through the reporting: latest case numbers *, symptoms occurring * and possible protective measures *. The most important thing about the topic is also on our brand new Facebook page Corona News - subscribe now.
Ecuador - "People died on the front steps to our hospitals and we had no chance to help them," Marcelo Castillo told The New York Times. He is an intensive care doctor in the particularly badly affected metropolis of Guayaquil. At the beginning of April there were reports of corpses on streets, in living rooms and hospitals that could not be removed by overwhelmed authorities, burials were sometimes impossible. There was a tragic confusion in Guayaquil, in which a woman was wrongly declared dead.
Coffins are offered for sale in front of the Abel Gilbert Ponton Hospital in Guayaquil (Ecuador)
© AFP / JOSE SANCHEZ LINDAO
According to information from Johns Hopkins University, 22,719 people have been tested positive in Ecuador, 576 people have died in Ecuador. However, according to the New York Times, from March 1 to mid-April, 7,600 more people died than in the same period in 2019.
This makes Ecuador a sad example of what can happen if the corona virus overtakes a country with a poorly equipped health system and economic crisis - but questions remain.
Coronavirus disaster in Ecuador: "patient zero" seems clear
The country, which has a population of 17 million, is located in northwestern South America and has been ruled by President Lenin Moreno since 2017. He had ordered a curfew in mid-March.
Police band tours #Quito to thank health workers battling #coronavirus #Ecuador pic.twitter.com/DhMju9vqS9
- Ruptly (@Ruptly) April 25, 2020The chronology of the pathogen * can probably be traced exactly for Ecuador, as the taz writes: Patient Null *, a 74-year-old woman, came from Madrid in mid-March, attended several family celebrations and moved freely through the country before she tested positive has been.
Coronavirus in Ecuador:
About 3.6 million people work in the informal sector in Ecuador - that is, they have no income and no more food at the time of the curfews * . The taz writes that it is becoming increasingly difficult for people across the country to stay at home. And this despite the fact that the situation had initially improved due to the initial restrictions and that the capital city of Quito was not badly affected - contrary to other fears.
The fact that Ecuador is a country with an above-average young population and is currently over 30 degrees is also contradicting some common theories about the corona virus. Falling export revenues and a high mountain of debt increase the dilemma the state is now facing: maintaining strict conditions or easing in favor of the economy * ?
* Merkur.de is part of the Germany-wide Ippen-Digital editors network.
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Rubric list image: © dpa / Juan Diego Montenegro
