LA PAZ (Reuters) – Bolivian police forces in La Paz and El Alto have collected more than 3,300 bodies of others who have died in their homes or public places since April, about 80% of which are believed to have become inflamed with the new coronavirus, a police leader said.
With fitness systems overwhelmed, police took on a front-line role in collecting the dead, and expanded to about 3 according to last week’s time as infections in the landlocked Andean country of approximately 11.5 million people.
“The fitness service and forensic institutes collapsed due to lack of staff, the number of bodies now being collected is very large,” Walter Sossa, director of the special force against crime in El Alto, told Reuters.
The official number of coronavirus infections in Bolivia is more than 72,000, with a death toll of 2,700, although, as in many countries, the actual number of deaths is much higher.
Often, with little protection, 527 police officers have become inflamed with the virus, Sossa said, meaning officers carry the bodies of their colleagues. Some bodies have been collected from the streets and a recent case has shown the death of a baby from the virus.
“We are human and we can be inflamed like anyone else. We’re also on the front line of work, so we’re more exposed than the s,” Sossa said, adding that the bodies of three officials had been recovered on Tuesday.
Reporting through Monica Machicao and Santiago Limachi; Writing through Daniel Ramos; Edited by Adam Jourdan and Will Dunham
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