In South America, Ecuador is one of COVID-19's biggest victims. In the earlier parts of the month, news surfaced that the Ecuadorian government needs to arrange public cemetery emergency plots and locate additional burial locations on private lands to meet the demands for the increasing deaths in the northern region of Guayaquil.


Dead Bodies Everywhere

It was reported that some families are keeping the dead bodies of their loved ones at home because they are waiting for the availability of burial space, says an article. There were images of dead bodies filling the streets. Some were being placed inside cardboard boxes due to the scarce volume of wooden coffins. This news had circulated online.


Ecuador is Overwhelmed; How accurate is the data?

The dreadful reports indicate that Ecuador was overwhelmed. However, it was only during the recent week that an analysis of the whole situation in Ecuador was made.

The Ecuadorian government had announced 503 COVID-19 deaths as of April 15. It was found out through the analysis that there are more or less 7,600 additional deaths this year compared to the previous years' average.

However, COVID-19 does not cause all of these deaths. The mortality data during the mid-pandemic is not accurate and is still subject to changes.


Hurting the Country's Healthcare Resources

The findings of the analysis strengthen the fact that the COVID-19 pandemics had severely hurt the healthcare resources of the country and that it can cause the deaths of many, especially those who will not get proper treatment from hospitals due to the sudden surge of COVID-19 patients. Doctors express their observations regarding the issue.

According to a private hospital's ICU unit head Marcelo Castillo, some patients are dying because the hospital lacks resources to help them. Families and friends are asking the hospital for beds for their sick loved ones, and they are unable to provide any.

Additionally, the data reveals that in Guayaquil, the total deaths in the first fourteen days were eight times more than the average mortality rates. In New York, another epicenter of the COVID-19 outbreak, deaths increased four times more than the average deaths in the place.


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COVID-19 Testing

The population of Ecuador is young, and it is still not clear why the nation had become so vulnerable to the disease. However, it seems like their insufficient supplies and testing kits had contributed to their current problem with the illness.

According to the mayor of Guayaquil, the actual COVID-19 cases in the country cannot be determined because of the last of tests.

It was reported that on April 24, Ecuador had more tests. This had resulted in the doubling of COVID-19 reported cases in the country.

The Ecuadorian government is currently working on strategies to jumpstart its economy. This had been a challenging task since the announcement of a lockdown in March.