'I lost control and started crying': Colombian doctor evicted as neighbours fear COVID-19

Record ID: 1471467

  • Title: 'I lost control and started crying': Colombian doctor evicted as neighbours fear COVID-19
  • Date: 24th April 2020
  • Summary: CALI, COLOMBIA (APRIL 21, 2020) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) DR. CRISTHIAN BOTACHE, SAYING: "(The landlady) told me that people were very scared, and they (tenants) decided and if I was not to leave the apartment that they then would, and that they would not pay the cancellation fee for the rent, that it was because of the situation I was in (as a medic) that they are at risk, that their lives were at risk. So the landlady said that unfortunately I had to leave the site and that she had to defend the security of her tenants."
  • Embargoed: 8th May 2020 20:45
  • Keywords: COVID-19 Cali Colombia coronavirus doctor fears hospital medic move pandemic pressure
  • Location: CALI, COLOMBIA
  • City: CALI, COLOMBIA
  • Country: Colombia
  • Reuters ID: LVA002CAUR493
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: A doctor in the Colombian city of Cali was forced from his apartment after just eight days of living there because residents of the building demanded he leave, fearing he would bring the new coronavirus into their homes.
    Cristhian Botache, 22, moved out of his family home at the start of the COVID-19 outbreak in order to protect his older relatives who are more at risk of falling seriously ill from the infection.
    However, his new neighbours protested against his arrival and demanded the building's owner evict him.
    With other residents afraid the young doctor was putting their lives at risk, the owner said she had to protect her tenants and asked him to leave, he added.
    The owner and neighbours could not immediately be reached for comment.
    Medical workers across Latin America have recorded rising hostility and even attacks amidst fear they could be spreading the new coronavirus. That hostility has been repeated elsewhere in Colombia, which has reported more than 4,500 cases of COVID-19 and over 210 deaths caused by the disease.
    "I lost control and started crying," Botache said.
    The doctor, who has since moved into another apartment, said he was humiliated and could not believe he was being asked to leave.
    Across the Andean country, more than 160 medical workers have been infected with COVID-19, leading to the deaths of at least 4, according to figures by Colombia's National Health Institute.
    (Production: Camilo Cohecha, Herbert Villarraga, Andres Rojas, 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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