Severe lockdown in El Salvador affects residents

Poor residents in El Salvador have started asking for food on the side of the road as a strict quarantine that rules over the Central American country continues in its second month.

On Tuesday, entire families from the Soyapango area waved white flags along a highway, begging motorists for food and saying the quarantine measures were leaving them without sustenance.

President Nayib Bukele decreed a national quarantine on March 14, ordering severe containment measures.

Residents of Soyapango noted that they are unable to keep up with those restrictions.

El Salvador government launched a food-aid program on Sunday, aimed to deliver supplies for 1.7 million families in vulnerable areas.

The packages contain corn flour, pasta, rice, beans, sugar, soluble coffee, chicken, powdered milk, oil, and tuna.

The government said that 1.5 million low-income families received the equivalent of US 300 each during March and April.

According to the Johns Hopkins University, El Salvador has nearly 1,500 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 30 reported deaths.

However, the number of infections may be far higher because many people have not been tested, and studies suggest people can be infected with the virus without feeling sick.

For most people, the new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks.

For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia and death.