Lockdowns coming across South America as Covid-19 cases rise

Buenos Aires, March 20 (IANS) Coronvirus cases have been reported from all countries of South America but deaths only in some, and various government have announced various measures to deal with the situation, reports said on Friday.

The biggest outbreak is in the largest country, Brazil, which has reported 621 cases and six deaths, the BBC reported.

Brazil’s Rio de Janeiro state is barring people from beaches, including the iconic Copacabana and Ipanema while states and cities across the country have imposed other restrictions.

A lockdown in Argentina is in place from midnight with people now only permitted to leave their houses to shop for groceries.

In neighbouring Chile, the Congress has decided to postpone for six months a referendum on whether to rewrite the country’s Constitution. The vote was slated for April 26, but more than 300 coronavirus cases – the second most in the continent – have been confirmed in the country.

Colombia’s capital, Bogota, is holding trials for quarantine plans, with night curfews already imposed in various cities.

A plane sent to Ecuador to pick up stranded tourists was prevented from landing at an airport in Guayaquil because the local mayor did not want the Spanish crew to disembark. The plane later landed in capital Quito, the BBC said.

–IANS

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