The Diplomat
Spain sent yesterday to Paraguay, through the Spanish Agency of International Cooperation for Development (AECID), 800 kilograms of medicines indicated to intubate patients severely affected by COVID-19.
The humanitarian shipment, valued at more than 43,000 euros, left Madrid on a commercial flight and will arrive today in Paraguay, where it will be delivered by local AECID officials to the Paraguayan Ministry of Public Health and Social Welfare.
The shipment, consisting of five pallets with 2,500 doses of atracurium and more than 66,000 ampoules of midazolam, responds to the bilateral request for aid from the Government of Paraguay due to the risk of shortage of drugs for intubation in the country. According to the Paraguayan Ministry of Health, at the beginning of May, consumption of these drugs averaged 300,000 doses of atracurium and 400,000 doses of midazolam per month.
On May 25, Paraguay registered 3,223 new cases of COVID-19, with 3,664 people hospitalized, 601 of them in Intensive Care Units (ICU). The country has a total population of 7,353,038 inhabitants, approximately half of whom are under 27 years of age.
According to data provided by the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO/WHO) on May 21, 1,001,781 people have died from the SARS-CoV-2 virus in Latin America and the Caribbean. Almost 89% of these deaths occurred in five countries: Brazil (44.3%), Mexico (22.1%), Colombia (8.3%), Argentina (7.3%) and Peru (6.7%). Three percent of all deaths occurred in Central America and one percent in the Caribbean.
