Ecuador has exceeded 9,000 deaths from Covid-19, including deaths probably due to the disease, but not confirmed for lack of testing, according to a report published Tuesday by the Ministry of Health. This country, which was one of the first affected by the pandemic on the American continent, reported 5,584 confirmed deaths and “ 3,454 probable deaths from Covid-19 nationally ”, for a total of 9,038, according to this official balance sheet.
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Ecuador, which has 17.5 million inhabitants, recorded 82,279 cases on Tuesday, including 118 more than the day before, or 470 per 100,000 inhabitants. Quito has the highest number of confirmed cases with 12,747, followed by Guayaquil, the country's second city, with 11,849. The number of cases in the capital exceeded last Thursday that of the port of Guayaquil, one of the first outbreaks of the virus in Latin America and whose health system had collapsed in April under the influx of sick and dead, some being stacked up in reefer containers and hospital toilets.
Since June 30, the number of infected people has almost doubled in Quito, which has 605 deaths from Covid-19. The Minister of Health, Juan Carlos Zevallos, however, estimated that the country had " succeeded in controlling the crisis ".
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Compared to other countries in the region, " Ecuador has not only kept the number of cases under control, but also the number of deaths, " the minister said in an interview with the public channel EcuadorTV. This country is the 6th in Latin America in number of cases and deaths after Brazil, Mexico, Peru and Colombia.