On 9 August, Paraguay’s Finance Minister Benigno López said that it would be “catastrophic” from an economic point of view to reimpose a lockdown in the country’s capital Asunción and neighbouring Central department.
Analysis:
López expressed this view as the health authorities in the government led by President Mario Abdo Benítez are becoming increasingly worried by a surge in coronavirus (Covid-19) cases and deaths, and are mooting delaying or even rolling back economic reactivation measures in parts of the country in a bid to slow the infection curve and avert a public health crisis. A division in government now appears to be emerging, between those who maintain that containment measures are necessary to save lives, and those who argue that their economic toll is too heavy a price to pay.
- López was speaking about the government’s economic reactivation plan on national television ABC TV yesterday when he was asked whether the government had considered what a return to lockdown in Asunción and the Central department might imply from an economic point of view. “This [a lockdown] would be catastrophic, it would be very difficult and would deliver an almost definitive blow to our forecasts for this year”, López replied.
- Asunción, Central, and the Alto Paraná department which borders Brazil are currently in ‘phase 3’ of the government’s ‘intelligent quarantine’ reactivation plan, while the rest of the country is in ‘phase 4’.
- In a press conference on 7 August, Health Minister Julio Mazzoleni said he had recommended to President Abdo Benítez that these three areas remain in ‘phase 3’ until 30 August. Mazzoleni also said that the country is entering “the most difficult stage of the pandemic”.
- As of yesterday, Paraguay had 6,907 confirmed cases of Covid-19 of which 75 deaths. The number of cases has risen by almost 262% in a month, while fatalities more than doubled in this period. Asunción, Central, and Alto Paraná have concentrated 90% of cases recorded in the last three weeks.
Looking Ahead: Covid-19 figures in Paraguay remain low in absolute terms, but as Guillermo Sequera, a health ministry official, has noted, the country’s healthcare system is still not equipped to deal with a large outbreak, hence the focus on prevention and containment measures to avoid a collapse in the healthcare system.