Bolivia: Police recover hundreds of bodies of suspected coronavirus victims

Deceased were found in the space of five days

Authorities have recovered more than 400 bodies in major cities across Bolivia in a five day period as the Covid-19 pandemic continues to sweep the country.

Officials believe that between 80 and 90 per cent of the deceased – found between 15 and 20 July – died after contracting the novel disease.

Col. Ivan Rojas, director of Bolivia’s special crime-fighting force, said his officers recovered 420 bodies from streets, vehicles and homes in the capital, La Paz, and in Bolivia’s biggest city, Santa Cruz.

Bolivia’s Institute of Forensic Investigations said that nationally, from 1 April until 19 July, its workers had recovered 3,016 bodies of people in possible coronavirus cases.

Andrés Flores, director of the agency, said the Santa Cruz department, which includes the city of that name, had the highest number of deaths, followed by Cochabamba.

A scientific committee advising the Bolivian government proposed on Tuesday that the presidential election scheduled for 6 September be postponed because of the pandemic.

Bolivia is trying to resolve the political crisis that erupted last November when street protests over allegations of election fraud led President Evo Morales to resign after nearly 14 years in power.

As of Wednesday afternoon, Bolivia had reported 60,991 cases of coronavirus and recorded 2,218 deaths.

South America has been hard hit by the pandemic in recent weeks, with Brazil, Peru, Mexico and Chile all seeing large numbers of new infections and deaths.

Some Bolivians desperate to avoid or cure the disease are turning to chlorine dioxide.

In a bizarre turn of events, Bolivia’s senate recently passed a bill touting the chemical as a treatment – despite the country’s health ministry advising politicians not to do so.

Chlorine dioxide is a bleach-like substance that the US Food and Drug Administration has warned consumers can jeopardise health and should not be purchased or drunk as a medical treatment.

But some people in Bolivia think the substance could work in the battle against the virus.

“I heard on the news that they were selling chlorine dioxide at the pharmacy. Acquaintances of mine took it, one for prevention and one for healing. It is doing them good,” Eric Ocanha told the Reuters news agency outside a pharmacy.

Others said they were confused about the advice they had been given.

“As always, the authorities say: ‘Consult your doctor.’ Which doctor? The poor do not have a doctor,” said Dionisio Flores.

Elsewhere, presidents Donald Trump and Jair Bolsonaro have claimed that hydroxychloroquine works as a treatment for the illness, without providing scientific evidence.

Additional reporting by agencies