Military and police to control compliance with new restrictions in Paraguay

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Minister of the Interior Arnaldo Giuzzio warned that the health situation in the country is complex, which is why this decision must be taken and did not rule out the involvement of National Anti-Drug Secretariat agents.

Paraguayan authorities announced that military and National Police troops will work jointly at checkpoints and patrols to ensure compliance with the restrictions established to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus, at a time when the hospital system is at the edge of its capacity and criticism of Mario Abdo Benítez’s government is multiplying on social networks.

“The situation is very difficult and these health measures force us to resort to other operational forces; we will be focusing all our efforts in controls, mainly in areas of Asunción and the Central Department,” added Giuzzio.

From Tuesday and until May 10th, a travel restriction will be in force in 59 cities in the red level due to the number of Covid-19 cases, including the capital, Asunción, and virtually all in the neighboring Central Department, the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak in the country and where the hospital collapse is being felt most.

According to Giuzzio, in the event of non-compliance, a report will be drawn up and sent to the Legal Department of the Ministry of Health, where proceedings will be opened and fines or sanctions will be imposed, which “will be made known to the public in due course.”

The new restrictions come at a time when Paraguay is experiencing its worst epidemiological situation since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.

According to Minister of Health Julio Borba, the number of patients hospitalized in intensive care and in normal hospitalization wards remains “very high” and there is a saturation of almost 100% in most public and private health care centers.

Faced with the imminent collapse of the healthcare system, the authorities decided to start referring infected patients to places where other types of medical activities were previously handled.

“That’s where these mitigation measures come from, we don’t want this to continue increasing and we don’t have a physical space where we can continue to support patients,” Borba expressed.

Along the same lines, director of Health Surveillance Guillermo Sequera reported that in Paraguay “the 3,000 hospitalized patients mark has been surpassed and there are 500 occupied therapy beds,” a situation that is replicated in other Southern Cone countries.

“Brazil is also in a high plateau of cases, Uruguay continues to increase, Argentina is also starting a rebound of cases, Chile too, perhaps Bolivia comes after a wave with fewer cases, but in general terms, at least in the last two months, there is a rising trend for all countries in the Southern Cone,” Sequera detailed.

Meanwhile, for Director of Health Promotion Adriana Amarilla, the length of restrictions represent “shock measures,” because now “all belts must be tightened.”

The restrictions have placed Abdo Benítez in the eye of the storm, and he was harshly criticized on social networks.

The hashtags “#MaritoDeLaMuerte” and “#GobiernoGenocida” were trending today on Twitter with some 3,000 mentions rejecting the new measures and criticizing unfulfilled promises on the provision of vaccines, in addition to the health crisis.

Most comments also made reference to the law passed by the National Congress which obliges the allocation of social funds from Itaipu and Yacyretá to the purchase of medicines and supplies for hospitals where coronavirus patients are treated.

The new measures were also echoed by the restaurant sector, which stated that it will not be able to cope with the restrictions again, since 70% of the sector’s income is generated at night.

“We have already made the calculations and, as we will not be able to work, we will have 15,000 people suspended in the sector,” anticipated president of the Association of Restaurants of Paraguay (ARPY) Oliver Gayet.

Meanwhile, the country was expecting tonight the second delivery of vaccines through the Covax mechanism, with 134,400, and 100,000 units of Covaxin donated by India, also for the second time.

Paraguay requires 7 million vaccines against the coronavirus and has so far acquired almost 4.3 million doses through Covax with the first shipment.

Since the start of the coronavirus pandemic and until last night, Paraguay had a total of 265,296 infections and 5,802 deaths, according to the latest Ministry of Health report.

Currently, 41,809 people are infected with the disease, 3,043 of whom are hospitalized and 521 are in Intensive Care.

Source: Télam