Ecuador: In the midst of the coronavirus crisis, the ministers of Health and Labor resigned
The pandemic adds seven dead and 532 infected in the country. The government of Lenín Moreno installed a night curfew since last Tuesday
Ecuadorian Ministers of Public Health, Catalina Andramuño, and Labor, Andrés Madero, resigned this Saturday amid the health emergency due to the coronavirus, which has left seven dead and 532 infected in the country, confirmed the Presidency.
"The resignations of officials Andrés Vicente Madero Poveda and Catalina Andramuño Zevallos are accepted; and Luis Arturo Poveda Velasco was named as Minister of Labor; and, Juan Carlos Zevallos López, as Minister of Public Health”, indicated the General Secretariat of Communication of the Presidency.
The resignations occur in the midst of the health emergency by COVID-19, of which there are also 870 suspected cases and 1,213 people in epidemiological observation.
In his last virtual press conference as minister, Andramuño reported on Saturday morning that next Monday two million COVID-19 tests will arrive in Ecuador, 16 out of the 24 Ecuadorian provinces are affected by the virus.
Among the provinces that do not register cases of COVID-19 are Carchi (border with Colombia), Cotopaxi, Tungurahua, Zamora Chinchipe, Napo, Pastaza, Orellana and the Galapagos archipelago, located about a thousand kilometers from the Ecuadorian continental coasts.
This afternoon a new curfew schedule from 4:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m. began in the provinces of Santa Elena and the Galapagos, which, the province of Guayas is already under the same curfew.
For the rest of the provinces, a new schedule also applies starting this Saturday, from 7:00 p.m. until 5:00 a.m.
Last Tuesday, the night curfew measure began in Ecuador between 9:00 and 5:00 in the morning, which was expanded in Guayas (the most affected province) as a result of the pandemic.
Also this Saturday, the Minister of Government, María Paula Romo, indicated that the Emergency Operations Committee (COE) has formalized the extension "of the suspension of the working day", with the exceptions provided by the state of emergency, until the next March 31.
