Ecuador discharges 54 coronavirus patients from hospital
The Ecuadorian Ministry of Health raised the death toll from coronavirus to 62 on Monday, but announced, for the first time since the crisis began with this disease in the country, on February 29, that hospital discharge has been given to 54 infected.
The Minister of Health, Juan Carlos Zevallos, in a virtual press conference, also pointed out that there are 1,966 positive cases in the country and 3,232 with suspected illness.
Zevallos noted as "very good news" that it has been reported that 54 people have already been discharged from hospital.
He specified that these patients were isolated in hospitals in the cities of Quito, Guayaquil, Cuenca, Manta, Portoviejo, Ambato, Guaranda, Machala and Milagro.
According to the latest report, the coastal province of Guayas, whose capital is Guayaquil, is the most affected by COVID-19 with 1,397 cases, followed by Pichincha (whose capital is Quito) with 191 patients, Los Ríos with 60, Azuay with 57 and Manabi with 50.
Of the total infected, 54 percent (1,064) are male patients and the majority of patients correspond to the age group between 20 and 49 years of age.
In Ecuador, a state of emergency and massive and compulsory home isolation rule, as a strategy to stop the spread of contagion.
In addition, a fifteen-hour daily curfew has been applied, which runs from two in the afternoon until five in the morning and also governs a restriction on the movement of vehicles, based on the latest numbers of registration plates.
The Minister of Government (Interior), María Paula Romo, announced on Monday that the Emergency Operations Committee (COE) has decided to carry until 5 April the suspension of the working day, which was initially set until tomorrow, March 31 .
This suspension will continue "keeping basic activities working," Romo said, recalling that next Sunday "three weeks of the most restrictive measures" will be met, including the fifteen-hour curfew throughout the country.
On March 11, the Ecuadorian president, Lenín Moreno, decreed a health emergency throughout the national territory to try to stop the expansion of the coronavirus.
