COVID-19 pandemic in Ecuador

The COVID-19 pandemic was reported to have spread to Ecuador on 29 February 2020. That was when a woman in her 70s tested positive for the virus. Ecuador was described in April as the growing "epicentre" of the pandemic in Latin America.^[3]

The city of Guayaquil had so many deaths that bodies were left in the street.^[4] Ecuador gave out cardboard coffins because the country had difficulty removing all the dead bodies.^[5][6] The government was planning to build emergency cemeteries to dispose of the bodies which are left in the streets.^[7]

In April 2021, newly elected President Guillermo Lasso said that his main priorities after being inaugurated would be to increase the COVID-19 vaccination rates in the country.^[8] Lassos said he aim for bilateral talks with Russia, China, the United States, the European Union and Chile to try to acquire vaccines.^[8]

The number of deaths was believed to be higher than the official figure because not enough testing was being done.^[9] A New York Times analysis found 7,600 more deaths had happened from 1 March to 15 April as the mortality rate spiked to three times as much as usual. That showed that the official death toll was lower than the actual death toll.^[10]