QUITO, Ecuador – Hundreds of other people with respiratory disorders queued for hours in the Ecuadorian capital on Tuesday to seek medical attention and tests to see if they were inflamed with the new coronavirus.
Hospitals and funeral homes have been overcrowded for weeks in Quito, where city officials have reported 12,747 cases shown and 605 deaths in the pandemic.
The result is that there are long lines of other people observing a snake from social distances from hospitals, with expectations of up to 4 hours before they can go through clinical examinations and immediate control of the coronavirus.
Health Minister Juan Carlos Zevallos said Quito “is in a critical situation.”
“There is a very significant demand for hospital beds and beds adapted to treat critical patients who require ventilation and extensive care beds,” he said. “We are in a position that is not in any way compared to the rest of Latin America.”
Infections have intensified since the government made the decision to take social isolation measures in early June and were further alleviated this month.
For Ecuador as a whole, 82,279 instances have been reported since late February, when the first case of COVID-19 was detected. COVID-19 killed 5584 people, according to the official account, experts say 3353 more deaths were likely caused by the virus.