Bolivia announces nationwide lockdown and state of emergency to combat COVID-19

Bolivia became the latest country to declare a state of emergency and nationwide lockdown to curb the spread of coronavirus. According to reports, the lockdown will come into effect on March 26 at midnight and will last through April 15. Bolivia's interim president Jeanine Anez addressed the nation on March 25 where he defended his order by saying that Bolivians did not follow the government-ordered mandatory quarantine measures which make the risk of contracting infection even higher, thus the complete lockdown step had to be taken as it became a no-choice option. 

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Bolivia will go under complete lockdown and all its borders will be shut, no public or private vehicles will be allowed on road except for essential reasons like emergency services. As per reports, no one will be allowed to leave their home and every family will have one designated shopper aged between 18-65, who will be assigned a weekday to shop, and can only go outside on that day. According to data, Bolivia has recorded 39 cases of coronavirus so far, of which six cases came in the last 24 hours. There have been no deaths in the country due to COVID-19. 

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Coronavirus outbreak

COVID-19 has claimed more than 21,200 lives across the world and has infected more than 4,71,000 people globally since it first broke out in December 2019. China was the most affected country until last week, however, Italy and Spain have surpassed it to record the most number of deaths anywhere in the world due to COVID-19. The virus is believed to have originated from a seafood market in China's Wuhan city, the epicentre of the disease, where animals were reportedly being traded illegally. 

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France and the United States have also joined the list of countries that have recorded more than 1,000 deaths due to Coronavirus. Health experts believe that the hotspot could soon shift to the United States, where 1,032 people have died so far, out of the 68,489 confirmed cases that the country has recorded since January 2020.

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(Image Credit: AP)