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In Ecuador, families wait with their dead as bodies pile up
Christine Armario and Gonzalo Solano, Associated Press
Updated 4:45 pm CDT, Thursday, April 2, 2020
QUITO, Ecuador (AP) — Daniel Larrea died Monday after a week of high fever, struggling to breathe and steadily turning blue. Then a new nightmare began for his family. No one in their city on Ecuador's Pacific coast would pick up his body.
. . .
Hospitals are turning away patients and bodies are being left on streets and in homes for days in Guayaquil, a normally bustling city of 2.6 million that has become a hot spot in Latin America as the coronavirus pandemic spreads.
The small South American nation has recorded 120 coronavirus deaths, but officials say there could be dozens more who died without ever being officially diagnosed — people like Larrea, who had all the symptoms, but never got tested. Nationwide, there were 3,160 cases confirmed on Thursday, likely a vast underestimate.
Meanwhile, untold numbers of Ecuadorians are dying of unrelated diseases that can’t be treated because hospitals are overwhelmed.
More:
https://www.chron.com/news/medical/article/In-coastal-Ecuador-city-families-wait-with-the-15175064.php
