Nightmare in the Andes: thousands die of corona in Peru because there is a lack of oxygen

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Burial of a corona victim in Arequipa

It was a race against time, and the worst part was that darn holiday. Peru's Independence Day, July 28th, a Tuesday. Yovana Valencia's father had Covid-19 and he urgently needed oxygen. But because of the holiday, all shops were closed.

A few weeks ago, one of her brothers died of this damn virus, he was a butcher in a market in Lima. Markets in Peru are considered to be particularly risky, where he was probably infected. "He couldn't stay at home any longer," said Valencia. "He had a big family to support."

Now they were six siblings, five in Peru and Yovana in Germany. She has a degree in engineering and is currently doing advanced training at SAP; she lives in Mannheim with her husband and her small child. But for days she had been thinking of her father in Arequipa, her native city in southern Peru. Every day she hung on the phone and tried to get an oxygen bottle for him.

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Alsonso Valencia Flores: The pensioner from Arequipa in Peru died of Covid-19 shortly before his 81st birthday

Oxygen is rare in Arequipa. At three in the morning, when it's still dark, the first people line up in the freezing cold in front of the company that fills the bottles. A filling costs almost 500 euros, you have to bring the bottle with you, it costs the equivalent of 1,500 euros per bottle on the black market. One bottle is enough for two days.

Two companies dominate the market for medical oxygen in Peru, Linde from Germany and Air Products from the USA. But the production is not enough. Normally, 60 tons are consumed daily in the country, while the need increased fivefold during the pandemic, said Health Minister Victor Zamora. The government has decided to build its own factory, but it will take weeks or months. Meanwhile, the black market is flourishing.

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Waiting for the vital oxygen: relatives of corona patients wait for fresh oxygen with empty bottles

Oxygen is scarce even in hospitals. "The younger patients are treated first," says Valencia. Statistically speaking, there are 2.3 ICU beds for 100,000 residents, far fewer than recommended by the United Nations. "In the current situation, we have to comprehensively assess which patient is potentially curable in a critical condition and which is not," said Jesús Valverde, President of the Peruvian Society for Intensive Care Medicine, Deutsche Welle. Valencia's father was 80.

People cannot afford isolation

Actually, they had the virus well under control in Peru; President Martín Vizcarra had already imposed a strict lockdown in March, one of the toughest quarantines in Latin America. But after a few weeks the pressure to loosen the restrictions increased. Most Peruvians are poor, they have to go to work, to the office, to the field, to the street or to the market, like Valencia's brother.

In late June, the government gradually lifted the lockdown, although the numbers rose dramatically. The Ministry of Health reported 433,100 cases on Tuesday, 4,250 more than the previous day. 19,811 people have died of Covid-19, 197 more than the day before. Today, Peru ranks second in corona deaths in South America after Brazil. Arequipa is one of the hardest hit cities.

More than a million people live here at an altitude of over 2000 meters on the edge of the high Andes. The city is a Unesco World Heritage Site, and it is also called the "white city"; many colonial buildings are made of white volcanic rock. The splendid main square, the "Plaza de Armas", is usually crowded with tourists who visit the nearby "Valley of the Condors" or go on mountain tours. Now you mainly see desperate people looking for oxygen.

Valencia's parents live with one of their brothers and his family in a two-story house. “The property used to be between fields in the country,” she recalls. "In the past few years it has been swallowed up by the city". Her father worked in a brewery, where he washed the managers' cars. "He loved his job," she says. "When he drove the car to be washed, he felt like the boss himself."  

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Car instead of hospital: patients are supplied with oxygen in front of the Honorio Delgado Regional Hospital in Ariquipa

Since his retirement he lived on his pension, he could even afford a car. "He was not in need," said Valencia. Her brothers work in construction, one is a bricklayer, another loads trucks with stones, one hires out as a clown at children's parties. "We were poor but happy."

Overcrowded hospitals

When her brother fell ill with Covid-19 in Lima, her father stopped going out of the house for fear of infection, and the mother moved to live with relatives. "He was fit for his age, only the blood pressure was a little high," says the daughter. He had already visited her in Germany three times; in April he wanted to visit her again, she had already bought the ticket. But the flight was canceled due to Corona.

He felt the first symptoms on Thursday, five days before the national holiday. "We don't know how he got infected," said Valencia. "He had a fever like a bad cold."

An acquaintance who worked as a doctor did a quick test, it was negative. But when the breathlessness increased, they had his lungs x-rayed; they were full of small white spots, a typical Covid 19 symptom. Valencia called a friend who works in the hospital. "Don't bring him here, we have no space," she said.

In desperation, her brothers gave him various drugs, including paracetemol for fever and a drug that is actually used to fight parasites, but has a reputation in Peru for being effective against corona. They bought a device that can measure the oxygen saturation of the lungs. At the same time, Valencia went to look for oxygen bottles by phone.

She phoned all businesses, published messages on social media. Finally, an acquaintance who lives in Chile contacted Facebook. Her mother in Arequipa had bought several bottles as a precaution because she had Corona, but she had recovered and no longer needed them. She bought four bottles for the equivalent of 6,000 euros and transferred the money. One filling would last for two days.

"I felt so powerless"

One of Valencia's brothers picked up the bottles, they got them even though the banks were closed because of the national holiday, they breathed a sigh of relief. But when they measured the oxygen saturation in his lungs the next day, it was only 56 percent. "So we decided: now he has to go to the hospital."

Her brothers carried him into the car, and they also heaved the oxygen bottles into the car. Valencia reports that they raced to the state hospital Honorio Delgado. "My father had health insurance, the contributions were always paid, he was entitled to treatment." But it was too late. Alfonso Valencia Flores died in his car in front of the hospital. It was Wednesday, July 29th, 7pm. One day after the national holiday. On Sunday he would have been 81 years old.

"I felt so powerless," says his daughter in Germany. "I had transferred the money, we had the bottles, but it was too late".

The day after her father died, a cousin called. A friend in the very south of the country was seriously ill with Covid-19 and on the way to Arequipa. You are urgently looking for an oxygen cylinder.