The Minister of Health, Ximena Garzón, speaks of a rebound in cases in the provinces where the vaccination process has been delayed.
Arrival at 09:00, Adrián Campoverde, ECU911 ambulance doctor, prepares to start his day. From the central they notify you a code ‘blue eleven’, which means respiratory failure. Dressed in his biosafety suit, he sets out to evaluate a possible COVID-19 patient. In recent weeks there have been days when his day has lasted until dawn, as infections have been increasing in his city.
Campoverde works in Pineapples (El Oro). Many of his patients doubt that it is coronavirus when they have the first symptoms. He says to them: “Everything here is covid until proven otherwise.” He says that infections have increased in his city, because a few weeks ago there were days without emergencies of this type and that now they do not go below six a day.
Official statistics from the Ministry of Public Health (MSP) coincide with this perception. They warn that this canton is going through the highest peak of infections of the entire pandemic. In the last month, 205 confirmed cases, an exorbitant figure when compared with the cases throughout October, when only 9 were detected. This is a serious problem in a canton with a population of 30,500 inhabitants, according to MSP estimates.
The data from this Ministry also show a rebound in El Pangui (Zamora Chinchipe). This canton, of 11,000 inhabitants, registered 42 positive cases in the last month, while in October only 5. The previous peak there was in April, when there were 30 cases.
The MSP figures also warn of a growth in cases in cantons of Manabí, the central Sierra and the north of the Oriente, as the following map shows.
The Minister of Public Health, Ximena Garzón, carried out last Tuesday an analysis of the progress of confirmed cases in the provinces and concluded that there is an increase in those that have had delay in the vaccination process. “In Napo and Chimborazo there is a rebound in cases; In recent weeks we have also had a delay in vaccination coverage in Bolívar, Imbabura, Morona Santiago, Pastaza, Orellana and Sucumbíos and it coincides with the delay in vaccines in the population between 5 and 24 years old ”, he pointed out.
He added that next week the Government will receive a donation of PCR tests from the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) that will serve to strengthen epidemiological surveillance. “We are going to carry out a greater number of PCR scans at the community level, especially in the provinces that have the highest risk of contagion, in those provinces that have more hot spots as a priority,” he announced.
For the epidemiologist Andrea Gómez, this rise in infections is due in part to holidays in early November and October 9. She explained that they can only be seen in official statistics due to the delay in the information, which can last for weeks. “The person is infected, has symptoms and the exam is carried out, then the exam is uploaded to the system, it is verified and at the end it is uploaded to the infographic (of the MSP),” he exemplified.
PAHO placed Ecuador among the countries in the region where the incidence of COVID-19 has increased the most, in a report published on November 24. “Almost all countries in South America, with the exception of Brazil, Suriname and Venezuela, are reporting an increase in the incidence of COVID-19, and the most pronounced increases in the last week have been observed in Ecuador and Paraguay”, The report specified.
The delta variant
The rebound in cases in Piñas worries local health authorities. The district director of that canton, Katherine Porras, affirms that the rise in infections is due to to the relaxation of the population and the agglomerations.
For Guido Silva, a master in molecular biology and genetics who works in a private laboratory in Piñas, it is very likely that this increase in cases corresponds to the delta variant. He draws that conclusion from the symptoms of the patients in recent weeks.
Silva explains that those who contract this variant experience flu symptoms such as a runny nose, coughing and sneezing, as well as bodily discomfort and in many cases loss of smell and taste, after three or four days after infection.
In addition, he specified that it could be a community spread. “We knew where the outbreak was, but we did not expect the expansion to be so rapid (…) The new cases are from patients who are arriving by transmission at points where it is not known where they were infected,” he said.
Stable hospital occupation
Although cases have increased in Piñas and El Pangui, hospital occupancy remains stable in those areas of the country. Gina Cueva is the director of health surveillance for Zone 7, which includes El Oro, Zamora Chinchipe and Loja. She maintains that there are enough beds to care for COVID-19 patients and that, if necessary, they have an emergency plan to expand capacity.
In El Oro there are two hospitals that have spaces for COVID-19, both located in Machala. The first is the Teófilo Dávila, which is equipped with 20 hospital beds, of which 10 were occupied last Friday; so were its four intensive care units (ICUs).
The second is the IESS hospital in Machala, which has 32 hospital beds, of which 13 were occupied; it also has 6 ICUs, of which 2 were in use.
In Zamora Chinchipe, on the other hand, COVID-19 patients are cared for in the hospital Julius Doepfner, located in Zamora, with just three beds destined for hospitalization that were unoccupied on Friday. In this center there are no areas for intensive care, so seriously ill patients are transferred to the Isidro Ayora hospital in Loja.
The epidemiologist Andrea Gómez argues that the moderate hospital occupancy, despite the rebound in cases, is an effect of mass vaccination.
According to the Vaccine Meter report presented by the MSP on December 2, Piñas has 82% of its entire population immunized, with the complete vaccination scheme; while in El Pangui that figure is 76%.
At the national level, there is a slight increase in hospital occupancy. The available ICUs have 47% occupancy, intermediate care beds 36% and hospital beds 22%, according to official figures cut to December 2. (I)
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