* Nicaragua’s main private sector lobby, Consejo Superior de la Empresa Privada (Cosep), has called for all non-essential businesses to shut down in order to contain the spread of coronavirus (Covid-19). It follows a statement issued by various Nicaraguan medical associations calling for a “
voluntary quarantine” due to the “
exponential rise” in Covid-19 cases, which it warns has caused a “
collapse of Nicaragua’s public and private healthcare system”. The government has so far failed to implement any emergency measures or a national quarantine, although even without such measures, the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (Eclac) has forecast that Nicaragua’s GDP will contract by 5.9% in 2020, the largest contraction in Central America. According to the latest (26 May) weekly official figures, there have been 759 confirmed Covid-19 cases and 35 fatalities in Nicaragua, up from 279 cases and 17 deaths as of 19 May, although a local civil society group, Observatorio Ciudadano Covid-19, reported 3,725 suspected Covid-19 cases and 805 suspected deaths as of 27 May.
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