BOGOTÁ, Jul 16 (Reuters) – Doctors in Bogotá on Thursday called for a return to a strict city-wide quarantine to curb coronavirus infections in the Colombian capital, warning that services in clinics and hospitals are about to to collapse.
File photo. A doctor and nurses attend to a patient suffering from coronavirus in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the El Tunal hospital in Bogotá, Colombia, June 12, 2020. REUTERS / Luisa González
The South American country has reported more than 173,000 cases of COVID-19 and around 6,000 deaths. Bogotá represents more than a third of the total cases and more than 20% of the deaths.
“We are in a critical situation,” Herman Bayona, president of the Medical College of Bogotá, told Reuters. “We are on the verge of collapse.”
Colombian President Iván Duque declared an ongoing quarantine to curb the spread of the coronavirus on March 25.
Although the quarantine is expected to be lifted on August 1, some sectors of the economy reopened and more and more people take to the streets in capital cities like Bogotá.
This week, the country’s capital, which has eight million inhabitants, began strict two-week zonal quarantines to control infections, something Bayonne found ineffective.
“We believe that the zonal quarantine does not stop the contagion rate,” said the doctor.
Bayona said several medical associations met with political leaders in Bogotá to advocate for the return to a strict city-wide quarantine.
Bogota’s intensive care units (ICUs) were about 90% full at capacity on Wednesday night. Mayor Claudia López visited a public hospital on Thursday and said that between 20 and 30 new fans will be connected daily to increase the capacity of the ICU.
But ICUs are not the only measure of a saturated health system. The COVID-19 rooms in the city are full, Bayona revealed, while the emergency services operate beyond capacity.
López, who will organize a meeting early next week with the Ministry of Health to determine if all of Bogotá will be subjected to a strict quarantine, said that all COVID-19 patients are being treated despite the increased demand.
“There is no collapse of the Bogotá hospital system, the hospital system and ICUs are serving everyone who needs it, it has not happened that a patient arrives and we cannot attend to him,” said the mayor, admitting that some hospitals have occupation of the 100% and others 80%, which leaves room for maneuver.
However, Bayonne warned that if the hospitals reach their maximum capacity when the peak of the pandemic arrives, it will spell disaster.
“If we reach 100% and if the peak of the pandemic comes to us, then the possibility and risk of a large number of deaths in our city is latent and that is what we do not want,” he concluded.
Translated by Luis Jaime Acosta
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