Ecuador shares pandemic experiences

By Alida Juliani

Madrid, Sep 5 (efe-epa).- Ecuador has been sharing its experience of tackling the coronavirus pandemic to help other nations, the country’s health minister said on Saturday.

Juan Carlos Zevallos has completed a tour of Europe, including visits to Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom, to spread information about how the country has managed during the Covid-19 outbreak.

“I have just visited Berlin, London and Madrid but Ecuador, with a population that has become very contaminated, has 2.5 times fewer deaths than any of these three European countries,” he told Efe.

Ecuador has reported around 117,175 confirmed cases and 6,675 deaths, according to health officials.

Four months after the city of Guayaquil was ravaged by the outbreak, the situation is largely under control in the South American country, according to Zevallos.

“We have far fewer deaths per million inhabitants than practically all the countries of Latin America and with a much higher rate of infection than we had previously,” he added.

Zevallos said the reaction to the pandemic has to be bilateral.

“Classically it has been: let’s learn one way, let’s get donations, let’s do everything as it has been done in Europe or in the United States,” he continued.

“And that’s fine, but I want to emphasize that we’re all adapting and learning all the time.”