Ecuador News

The demand for Covid-19 vaccines prompted by the arrival of the delta variant has made Ecuador number one in the world per capita in vaccines given each day. The surge began last week with the Health Ministry’s announcement that the delta variant had been found in at least two southern provinces. According to the Our...

Vice President Alfredo Borrero announced Monday that the government will begin closing pharmacies in Social Security (IESS) and public hospitals and that private and municipal pharmacies will take over medicine distribution for hospital clients. “We are beginning the process of removing the pharmacies from public hospitals, shifting medication fulfillment to private pharmacies and those operated...

Can local governments mandate Covid-19 vaccine cards for entrance to stores, restaurants, sporting events and public transportation? The question came up last week after the mayors of Guayaquil and Loja said they would institute such a requirement in their communities. In Cuenca, two municipal council members said such a requirement might be necessary and indicated...

The Ministry of Health reported that 336,000 Covid-19 vaccines were administered on Friday, the highest single-day total since the vaccination program began in February. It was the third record set since Tuesday when news that the Covid delta variant had arrived in Ecuador. “There is no doubt that the variant is the reason for the...

Business and industry groups are criticizing the state of emergency declared for Guayaquil and El Oro Province due to the emergence of the delta variant of the Covid-19 virus. “We cannot stand another round of restrictions and lockdowns,” says Pablo Bermeo, spokesman for the Hotel and Restaurant Association of Ecuador. “We are just beginning to...

Author’s note: Time is running out for Ecuador to save its Amazon rainforests — areas which have 10,000 times the biodiversity of the Galapagos islands. Ethno-ecologist  Adam Gebb looks at the problems and possibilities in a seven-part series. This article explores how entire forest communities have to migrate or perish. By Adam Gebb As climate...

Covid-19 vaccines protect you against the new delta variant that has recently arrived in Ecuador. That’s the message the Ministry of Health wants to put out to the public. “Of the 10 patients infected with the new variant, nine were unvaccinated,” says Isabel María Cueva, Zone 7 Ministry of Health director. “One patient had received...

President Guillermo Lasso declared a state of emergency in Guayaquil and El Oro Province Wednesday morning in an effort to contain the spread of the delta variant of the Covid-19 virus. The action is based on the recommendation by the national Emergency Operations Committee (COE). Lasso said he regretted limiting human mobility and some business...

Following the announcement that the Covid-19 delta variant has entered Ecuador, the country’s two largest medical organizations are demanding that the government declare a new national health emergency. Among the measures the Guayas and Pichincha Medical Colleges recommend are restrictions on travel, including incoming international flights, strict curfews, weekend lockdowns and a ban on liquor...

Just two days after claiming that no cases of the Covid-19 delta variant had been recorded in Ecuador, the Ministry of Health has confirmed cases and deaths in Guayas and El Oro Provinces. Minister of Health Ximena Garzón blamed the confusion on a reporting error at local ministry offices. At a Saturday press conference, the...

Ecuador’s plan to vaccinate nine million residents against the Covid-19 virus by September is turning its attention to the country’s tourism sector. The Ministry of Health says it has inoculated 35,000 tourism industry workers in Quito, Cuenca and Guayaquil in the last two weeks, adding that the program will extend to other areas of the...