Number plate of a car in Quito, Ecuador, January 2020

'In Guayaquil, ground zero for the spread of COVID-19 in Ecuador, dead bodies have been piling up on the streets, in hospitals and inside houses'…

This kind of news and reports have been surrounding us for last 3 days. The situation in the country is dramatic, and there are no hopes that things will get better any time soon. When fighting COVID-19, countries like Ecuador, do have exactly the same problems in seen in Spain, Italy, US, or South Korea, plus the extreme poverty. When you have no food, and no one to help you get it, when you live on the streets, you cannot just 'stay at home'. Then, on the other hand, when you are out and about, you get infected and you are a vector for infections. Here we have a vicious circle… you can't stay home, but you really can't go out either.

The tragedy of Guayaquil is only the beginning of what we may observe in other towns and cities of the countries with large populations living in extreme poverty. I am worried that what we are seeing in cities across Spain, Italy, or USA is just a very mild introduction to what we will be seeing in many of the Latin American and African countries.

It is now more than ever that we need to look out of our countries… even if we think that we are already so badly experienced and that we need to protect ourselves, we really should look out and put yet some more effort to give a landing hand to countries that are less wealthy. We just need to do it!