Caracas.- Venezuela’s judicial authorities ordered the arrest of 81 people, including some teenagers, for failing to comply with quarantine by participating in parties in the capital amid the advance of the new coronavirus, which already exceeds 30,000 contagions. The detainees were apprehended at various celebrations for the alleged crime of resistance to authority and contempt of quarantine that has been in force for five months, and the failure to comply with biosecurity and social estrangement measures, the Supreme Court of Justice said in a statement he disseminated on social media.
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The arrests came a few days after the representative Nicolás Maduro announced that new decisions would be made to “cut off” the expansion of the virus in Caracas, which is the main focus of the country with more than 7,000 cases. Maduro has suggested that the advance of the coronavirus in the capital, where more than six million people live, is a consequence of the numerous festivals that take place in the city.” 70% of people infected… they have done it at parties, celebrations,” the leftist ruler said late last month. Opponents and analysts reject the representative’s argument on the grounds that non-compliance with quarantine occurs not only at the holidays but also in the crowded agglomerations observed daily in the popular sectors of Caracas where its inhabitants, burdened by the economic crisis, make street sales to survive or buy the few products that they can acquire with their precarious income , house more insufficient due to hyperinflation. The detention of people who fail to comply with quarantine has been questioned by opponents and humanitarian organizations who have accused Maduro of increasing repression in the South American nation. Authorities on Thursday announced a record 1,281 new cases in a day, raising the total contagion record to 30,369 and the death toll to 259.La duplication of cases in the past three weeks has raised concerns among specialists and opponents who have reported that some of the hospitals that were designated to deal with COVID-19 cases are collapsing. Olivares said this week that 62% of emergency rooms and 61% of intensive care units are already occupied. Some of the capital’s major clinics have also reported that they already have all the beds arranged for coronavirus cases occupied. Venezuela confronts the pandemic with a precarious health system due to shortages of medicines, supplies and personnel and frequent failures in water and light services, which has made some international organizations and specialists anticipate that the new coronavirus could have serious consequences in the South American nation. You may also be interested in:
