Bolivians protest at hospital for removal of coronavirus patients amidst outbreak fears

Record ID: 1463662

  • Title: Bolivians protest at hospital for removal of coronavirus patients amidst outbreak fears
  • Date: 12th March 2020
  • Summary: ORURO, BOLIVIA (MARCH 11, 2020) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF LOCALS GATHERED OUTSIDE HOSPITAL TO PROTEST TREATMENT OF SUSPECTED CORONAVIRUS PATIENTS AT THE SITE ROCKS ACROSS STREET TO BLOCK VEHICLE ACCESS TO HOSPITAL LOCALS GATHERED IN PROTEST (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTER, SAYING: "They (authorities) need to take them (suspected coronavirus patients) to another place where there aren't so many people, where many other patients don't go to. The government is hiding, this woman (referring to Interim President Jeanine Anez) says things are supposedly stable but then why are people being brought to hospital." LA PAZ, BOLIVIA (MARCH 12, 2020) (REUTERS) PLACARD PUT UP AT HOSPITAL FENCE THAT READS (Spanish) "STOP WITH THE LIES. WE KNOW THAT BOLIVIA IS NOT PREPARED TO CONTROL CORONAVIRUS. DON'T LET IT COME IN" VARIOUS OF HOSPITAL STAFF GATHERED IN PROTEST, CHANTING (Spanish) "THE SITE IS NOT PREPARED" STAFF CHANTING (Spanish) "(HOSPITAL) HOLANDES IS IN A STATE OF EMERGENCY" (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) HOSPITAL EMPLOYEE, LEONOR MAMANI, SAYING: "The people who are coming in (to the hospital) are not all carriers of coronavirus. When they (suspected cases) come into the emergency room then everyone is in danger and that includes personnel. We don't have supplies and we are facing the risk of death." VARIOUS OF PEOPLE AT HOSPITAL INTERIOR WOMAN IN INDIGENOUS DRESS WAITING AT HOSPITAL NEWS CONFERENCE WITH INTERIM PRESIDENT JEANINE ANEZ (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) INTERIM PRESIDENT JEANINE ANEZ, SAYING: "We have taken the following decisions. First, the temporary suspension of classes across the country, at all levels from March 31. Second, we have suspended flights from Europe from the first hours of Saturday (March 14). Third, all people coming into Bolivian territory, whatever the border will face security measures, following strict protocols established by the World Health Organisation." OFFICIALS AT NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) HEALTH MINISTER, ANIBAL CRUZ, SAYING: "Yesterday at night the third case was confirmed, on the basis of laboratory results showing coronavirus from a patient from came through Madrid to Miami and then to Santa Cruz, Bolivia." EXTERIOR OF SCHOOL LETTERING AT SCHOOL STUDENTS ON SCHOOL GROUNDS STUDENTS ARRANGING CHAIRS IN CLASSROOM
  • Embargoed: 26th March 2020 20:13
  • Keywords: Bolivia Interim President Jeanine Anez coronavirus hospital protest virus
  • Location: LA PAZ + ORURO, BOLIVIA
  • City: LA PAZ + ORURO, BOLIVIA
  • Country: Bolivia
  • Topics: Health/Medicine
  • Reuters ID: LVA001C4QVXAF
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Bolivians protested outside hospitals in the landlocked Latin American nation, calling on authorities to step up preparations against the virus amidst outbreak fears.
    Bolivia reported its first two confirmed cases of coronavirus on Tuesday (March 10), and a third on Wednesday (March 11).
    One of the patients is in the city of Oruro, where a patient is reportedly in quarantine at home alongside her relatives. Locals blockaded a road to the Korea Hospital amidst fears that residents that were potentially carriers of the virus were being treated by medics. They want any suspected cases to be treated at another site.
    In La Paz, hospital staff walked off the job to protest a reported lack of supplies to tackle any outbreak in the city.
    Bolivia is one of Latin America's poorest nations and citizens fear they are ill-equipped to handle an uptake in cases.
    Speaking in La Paz on Thursday, Interim President Jeanine Anez announced stricter measures to seek to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus including halting flights to and from Europe and shutting schools.
    Anez added all schools would be closed until the end of the month and public gatherings of more than 1,000 people banned. Several candidates campaigning for the May presidential election have said they would cancel rallies.
    There are now more than 126,000 cases of coronavirus globally, after the World Health Organisation called the outbreak a pandemic for the first time on Wednesday, and more than 4,600 have died, according to a Reuters tally at 0200 GMT on Thursday.
    (Production: Santiago Limachi, Sergio Limachi, Paul Vieira)
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2020. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
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