AP PHOTOS: Paraguay, landlocked “Iceland” amid pandemic | Taiwan news
Paraguay’s most respected writer, Augusto Roa Bastos, called his homeland “an island surrounded by land,” and so far it has certainly seemed isolated from the worst of the coronary heart disease epidemic in neighboring countries.
A nation of about 7 million people has only recorded 10 deaths as it hides behind borders, mostly closed to protect against disease, its once occupied border bridges are empty except for one or two stray dogs.
It has registered fewer than 750 confirmed cases, most of them among people who were quarantined for 14 days after arriving from Brazil or Argentina. Some have been stored in rooms, others in hotels.
Scheduled regular flights have also been canceled and very few aircraft are left on humanitarian missions, often being flown home by Paraguayans who had been stranded abroad or relocated to their own countries – all after being checked for temperature.
Paraguay was among the first in the region to impose strict restrictions in March – to tell people to stay home unless they receive food, medicine or medical care. Schools have long been closed. Churches are empty. Buses have been stopped, forcing some to sleep where they work.
Yet many go out to find something to eat or money to buy it. Several ignore quarantine restrictions on casting fishing lines in the Paraguay River. Some people line up for packed lunches delivered to elementary schools. And some are looking for what they can find in the bins at a central food distribution market in Asuncion, the capital.
The country has also been among the first to relax. As of May 4, the government allowed many companies to reopen. Builders once again began to work on projects – at least those that are in the open air.