Colombia raise alarm over surge in Covid-19 cases

Bogota

Colombian medical and scientific organizations have warned that there is an "alarming, vertiginous" surge in Covid-19 cases across the country, pointing to a steep increase since the authorities started reopening the economy in late April.

The Andean country is under a nationwide quarantine until August 1, but President Ivan Duque's government is simultaneously taking steps to relaunch the economy, according to Deutsche press agency (dpa).

The epicentre of the infections is Bogota, 15 organizations said in a letter to Duque and to the city's mayor, Claudia Lopez, which was quoted by broadcaster Caracol on Monday. They called for a two-week strict lockdown across the entire capital, which started introducing rolling two-week quarantines in its areas with the most Covid-19 cases on Monday.

 The quarantines, which cover most of the capital's districts, will run until August 23. A lockdown for the entire city of 8 million residents, however, has not been imposed so far. Coronavirus infections have increased rapidly in Colombia since April 27, when the authorities started giving permissions for dozens of economic sectors to reopen, the medical and scientific organizations pointed out.

The Health Ministry has confirmed 150,445 novel coronavirus infections, including 49,644 in Bogota. More than 5,000 people have died from the disease.