Ecuador suspends capacity restrictions after two years of pandemic

Ecuador withdrew after two years the capacity restrictions imposed by the covid-19 pandemic, but will continue to demand the use of the mask, President Guillermo Lasso said Friday.

“All sporting events, including the next Ecuadorian football team match with Argentina, all restaurants, shopping centers, cinemas, entertainment venues and workplaces from now on will have a 100% capacity,” he said at an event on economic recovery in the coastal city of Guayaquil (southwest).

In principle, the National Emergency Operations Committee (COE) had set up a 75% capacity for the duel for the South American qualifier for Qatar-2022, which will be played on March 29.

The president added that “the use of the mask and the application of biosafety measures are maintained as a precaution.”

According to Health Minister Ximena Garzón, the positivity rate of tests to diagnose covid-19 went from 62% in January to 9% in March. Earlier this year, the arrival of the omicron variant in the country forced the authorities to temporarily suspend face-to-face classes and reduce the capacity of their institutions.

“Today we have the pandemic under control,” exclaimed Lasso, whose government - which began in May - has carried out a successful vaccination plan. Some 13.6 million inhabitants, of the 17.7 in Ecuador, have completed the anti-covid immunization scheme.

At least 4.8 million people have the vaccine booster in the nation, which was the first in Latin America to declare vaccination mandatory for people over 5 years of age.

The port of Guayaquil was one of the first hotbeds of the pandemic in Latin America. The accelerated increase in cases then led to the collapse of the sanitary and funeral systems, even leaving people dead in homes and streets.

“It's sad to remember that two years ago, when the pandemic began, we saw dead bodies in the streets and sidewalks of Guayaquil. Today that doesn't exist anymore, that's part of a sad story,” Lasso commented.

Ecuador reports more than 852,800 infected (4,818 cases per 100,000 inhabitants) and 35,374 deaths from covid-19, after detecting a first case in February 2020.

pld/dl