- Title: 'Close to collapse' - Bogota doctors call for city-wide quarantine
- Date: 16th July 2020
- Summary: BOGOTA, COLOMBIA (JULY 16, 2020) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF PARAMEDICS TRANSPORTING PATIENT ON STRETCHER FAMILY MEMBERS OF PATIENTS WAITING OUTSIDE HEALTH CLINIC AMBULANCE PARKED OUTSIDE CLINIC VARIOUS OF PEOPLE OUTSIDE CLINIC ENTRANCE EXTERIOR OF CLINIC (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) PRESIDENT OF THE COLOMBIAN MEDICAL COLLEGE, DR HERMAN BAYONA, SAYING: "Emergency services are overcrowded, in some places respiratory rooms in emergency services are at more than 150% occupation and that concerns us a lot. We are very close to collapse. Even in emergency wards there are patients on respirators that are waiting to be transferred to intensive care. We believe that at any moment we could reach capacity and if we get to 100% occupation, and if the peak of the pandemic is coming then there is the possible risk of a large number of deaths. That is what we don't want." AMBULANCE OUTSIDE CLINIC ENTRANCE TO HOSPITAL MEDICAL STAFF ON HOSPITAL GROUNDS SIGN AT HOSPITAL GENERAL VIEW OF HOSPITAL EXTERIOR
- Embargoed: 30th July 2020 22:39
- Keywords: Bogota COVID-19 Colombia ICU coronavirus emergency hospital capacity pandemic
- Location: BOGOTA, COLOMBIA
- City: BOGOTA, COLOMBIA
- Country: Colombia
- Topics: Health/Medicine
- Reuters ID: LVA001CN28Y13
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Doctors in Bogota are calling for a return to a strict city-wide quarantine to slow coronavirus infections in Colombia's capital, warning that medical services are close to collapsing, a leading medic said Thursday (July 16).
The Andean country has reported over 165,000 cases of coronavirus and around 6,000 deaths. Bogota accounts for more than a third of the country's total cases and over 20% of its deaths.
Colombian President Ivan Duque declared an ongoing quarantine to slow the spread of coronavirus in late March.
While the quarantine is expected to lift on Aug. 1, certain sectors of the economy and parts of the country have started to reopen.
This week the capital began strict, rolling two-week quarantines by neighbourhood to control infections.
Bogota's intensive care units (ICUs) were at just under 90% capacity as of Wednesday (July 15) evening. Mayor Claudia Lopez visited a public hospital on Thursday and said between 20 and 30 new ventilators will come online daily to increase ICU capacity.
The concern with medics is that if hospitals reach full capacity, it could spell disaster.
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