Coronavirus surges on Colombia's Caribbean coast, doctors warn deaths underreported

Record ID: 1560798

  • Title: Coronavirus surges on Colombia's Caribbean coast, doctors warn deaths underreported
  • Date: 5th July 2020
  • Summary: BARRANQUILLA, COLOMBIA (RECENT - JUNE 27, 2020) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) BARRANQUILLA HEALTH SECRETARY, HUMBERTO MENDOZA, SAYING: "We have (done) more than 52,000 tests, perhaps this is the greatest diagnostic capacity in the country. Patients aren't going undiagnosed. There is a diagnosis, either discarding or confirming COVID-19. And of course deaths are documented and not under-reported."
  • Embargoed: 19th July 2020 16:27
  • Keywords: Barranquilla Bogota COVID-19 Caribbean Colombia President Ivan Duque coast coronavirus infections pandemic
  • Location: BARRANQUILLA AND BOGOTA, COLOMBIA
  • City: BARRANQUILLA AND BOGOTA, COLOMBIA
  • Country: Colombia
  • Topics: Health/Medicine
  • Reuters ID: LVA006CLJ72O7
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Coronavirus cases and deaths are surging along Colombia's Caribbean coast as the region becomes the epicentre of the pandemic in the Andean country, with doctors warning many deaths are going undetected.
    Colombia - Latin America's third-most populous nation - has officially reported more than 113,000 cases of coronavirus and just under 4,000 deaths among its 50 million inhabitants.
    The climbing figures pale in comparison with some neighbouring countries, with regional giant Brazil exceeding 64,200 deaths on Saturday (July 4).
    Colombia's Caribbean region accounts for close to 40% of the country's reported cases and just over half its deaths, according to an analysis of government data by the World Health Organisation (WHO).
    President Ivan Duque told Reuters last month his government was escalating its response to the pandemic in the Caribbean region, given the concentration of cases there, after taking strict measures to slow infection in cities like Cartagena.
    There is no definitive hypothesis about why there has been higher mortality in the coast region, but officials and doctors say flouting of social distancing rules and a higher incidence of certain other diseases may play a role.
    Atlantico province, with its port capital Barranquilla, has registered more than 1,300 deaths - more than Bogota, even though Atlantico has only about one-third of the capital's population.
    Doctors there say that despite an increased number of intensive care beds and stricter social distancing measures, deaths are likely being underreported in Barranquilla, which has a population of 1.2 million people.
    Barranquilla health secretary Humberto Mendoza denied there was significant underreporting of deaths in the city.
    Though Barranquilla has added around 200 ICU beds since the pandemic began, bringing the total operating to around 600, reports claim the units were operating near capacity.
    Medellin's mayor said on Twitter at the end of June his city had received ICU patients from Barranquilla.
    Health secretary Mendoza conceded some asymptomatic cases may go untested, but said Barranquilla had the highest rate of testing in the country. The city has performed more than 67,600 tests, which the INS reports is equivalent to just over 55,000 tests per million people. Nationally, this puts the city in second place to Colombia's Amazonas province, according to local figures.
    (Production: Herbert Villarraga, Paul Vieira)
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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