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Paraguay: Health minister resigns over pandemic management

Her Minister of Health Paraguay, Julio Mazzoleni, submitted his resignation, a day after the Senate urged him to leave, as the recent outbreak of the new coronavirus depletes the stocks of drugs in the hospitals and brings the health system to the brink of satiety.

Mr Mazzoleni has joined several top Latin American officials who have been forced to step down in the coming weeks as public outcry over how their governments handle the pandemic and the slow pace of vaccination campaigns.

The minister, who has been criticized recently, initially rejected a non-binding Senate decision calling for him to step down, but just hours after meeting with President Mario Abdo, he stepped back and announced his resignation.

“We agreed together to leave (…) in order to restore the (social) peace we need to face this challenge,” Mr Matsoleni concluded.

The head of state named Dr. Julio Vorva, Deputy Minister until yesterday, successor of Mr. Matsoleni. Dr. Borva told reporters that efforts would be made immediately to supply the country with medicines, vaccines and other items.

Despite this commitment, protesters took to the streets again yesterday Friday in the capital Asuncion as a climate of anger prevails over the painful shortages.

Paraguay now has a record number of SARS-CoV-2 infections: reaching 115 per 100,000 inhabitants in the last 7 days.

At the same time, the immunization campaign is moving at a slow pace: less than 0.1% of the population has been vaccinated, according to official data.

Paraguay has so far recorded more than 3,250 deaths from COVID-19 out of a total of 164,000 SARS-CoV-2 cases.

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