Argentina medics demand PPE, support for shantytown

Residents of a shantytown in the Argentine capital Buenos Aires demonstrated outside a local hospital on Tuesday to demand better housing where they live - and better working conditions for doctors and nurses.

Medics from the hospital joined them in the protest, which took place at a shantytown called Villa-1-11-14.

The protestors also demanded better personal protective equipment for medics treating COVID-19 patients.

The shantytown is one of the biggest and most densely populated in Buenos Aires, and is home to some 40,000 people.

To help control the spread of the virus, residents have set up sanitation walkways where people are disinfected with chlorine as they made their way through the neighbourhood's narrow alleys.

The coronavirus has taken a disproportionate toll on impoverished neighbourhoods such as Villa-1-11-14.

Authorities said Tuesday that shantytowns in the capital accounted for almost a quarter of Argentina's 12,000 confirmed cases of the disease.