Paraguay, an island surrounded by land, faces pandemic
Paraguay's most honored writer, Augusto Roa Bastos, called his homeland "an island surrounded by land,” and it so far has indeed seemed isolated from the worst of the coronavirus pandemic that has swept through neighboring countries.
The nation of some 7 million people has recorded only 10 deaths as it shelters behind frontiers largely closed to guard against the illness, its once-busy border bridges are empty save for a stray dog or two. It has recorded fewer than 750 confirmed cases, most of those among people who were placed in mandatory quarantine for 14 days after entering from Brazil or Argentina. Some have been housed in military barracks, some in hotels.
Regularly scheduled flights have been canceled as well, leaving just a few planes on humanitarian missions, often bringing home Paraguayans who had been stranded abroad, or carrying foreigners to their own homelands — all after being checked for temperature.
People stand in designated areas as they wait in line for free food staples at Santa Ana primary school in Asuncion, Paraguay, March 31, 2020, part of an already existing food program through the Education Ministry. (AP Photo/Jorge Saenz)
Paraguay was among the first in the region to impose tight restrictions in March — telling people to stay home except to get food, medicine or medical care. Schools have long since closed. Churches are empty. Buses have been halted, forcing some some to sleep where they work.
Still, many venture out to find something to eat, or the money to buy it. A few ignore quarantine restrictions to cast fishing lines into the Paraguay River. Some line up for packages of food handed out at elementary schools. And some scrounge for what they can find in the trash bins of the central food distribution market in Asuncion, the capital.
The country also has been among the first to ease up. As of May 4, the government allowed many businesses to resume. Builders once again set to work on projects — at least those in the open air.
Constructors workers labor on the top of a building in Asuncion, Paraguay, May 7, 2020 after the government authorized the reopening of some activity under a plan coined “Intelligent quarantine.” (AP Photo/Jorge Saenz)
A family waits on their bicycle to be tested for COVID-19 at a mobile test site in Asuncion, Paraguay, April 8, 2020. (AP Photo/Jorge Saenz)
A towel hangs from a bunk in a military barrack, housing Paraguayan migrants returning from Brazil, in Remansito, Paraguay, April 29, 2020. The group is under mandatory quarantine. (AP Photo/Jorge Saenz)
Guillermina de Figueredo, 72, balances recycled newspapers on her head which she sells to merchants who use them as wrappers in Asuncion, Paraguay, May 5, 2020. The government authorized the reopening of some businesses under a plan coined “Intelligent quarantine.” (AP Photo/Jorge Saenz)
A dog walks on the San Ignacio de Loyola International Bridge that crosses the Pilcomayo River, the natural border between Paraguay's Puerto Falcon and Argentina's Clorinda, April 27, 2020. The nations closed their borders. (AP Photo/Jorge Saenz)
A dog stands in the door of a shack where two Health Ministry workers wait for the occupant to come out to be tested for COVID-19 in Limpio, Paraguay, April 29, 2020. The woman inside was too ill to come to the door, so the nurse entered the home in protective gear to do the test. (AP Photo/Jorge Saenz)
Security guards follow Paraguay's president as he tours a new medical facility that will receive people with COVID-19 in Itagua, Paraguay, April 22, 2020. (AP Photo/Jorge Saenz)
People clutching containers wait in line for free lunch in the "Bañado Sur" neighborhood of Asuncion, Paraguay, April 21, 2020. Women from the neighborhood cooked donated food and served it to fellow residents, many of whom work as recyclers who are without work amid the lockdown. (AP Photo/Jorge Saenz)
Men fish on the shore of the Paraguay River during a lockdown to prevent spread of the new coronavirus in Lambare, Paraguay, April 30, 2020. (AP Photo/Jorge Saenz)
With his family, Fabian Ramirez, 11, scavenges a trash container for discarded vegetables at the "Mercado de Abasto," a market for vendors, during a quarantine to help contain the spread of the new coronavirus in Asuncion, Paraguay, April 2, 2020. (AP Photo/Jorge Saenz)
A worker sleeps on the floor of a warehouse at the "Mercado de Abasto," a market for vendors, where he is stranded after buses halted during the quarantine in Asuncion, Paraguay, April 2, 2020. (AP Photo/Jorge Saenz)
Nurses pose for a portrait as they work taking passengers' temperatures at the main bus station on International Nurse Day in Asuncion, Paraguay, May 12, 2020. The government is allowing bus travel up 100 km (about 62 miles) from the capital amid a partial lockdown. (AP Photo/Jorge Saenz)
Neighbors line up for free food staples outside Santa Ana primary school, part of an already existing food program through the Education Ministry, as people stay home from work amid the lockdown in Asuncion, Paraguay, March 31, 2020. (AP Photo/Jorge Saenz)
Empty swings sit idle in a park as families stay home amid a government ordered quarantine in Asuncion, Paraguay, April 7, 2020. (AP Photo/Jorge Saenz)
Walter Ferreira, left, and Laura Dure cook stew at a soup kitchen that feeds about 300 people daily in Luque, Paraguay, Monday, May 11, 2020. (AP Photo/Jorge Saenz)
Wearing a face shield and face mask, Matias Morel and his aunt Stefanie Ruiz Diaz, right, pass a temperature check point upon arrival for a flight to Miami, Florida, from Silvio Pettirossi airport in Luque, on the outskirts of Asuncion, Paraguay, Thursday, April 23, 2020. Paraguay's government has organized with several other nations to get their nationals home, amid a lack of flights due to the global lockdown. (AP Photo/Jorge Saenz)
Archbishop Edmundo Valenzuela blesses a palm during Palm Sunday Mass inside the Cathedral, devoid of parishioners amid the new coronavirus pandemic in Asuncion, Paraguay, April 4, 2020. (AP Photo/Jorge Saenz)
Children reach for food handed out by a woman in a passing car in the poor, Chacarita neighborhood during a lockdown in Asuncion, Paraguay, April 10, 2020. (AP Photo/Jorge Saenz)
A woman sweeps the sidewalk outside her home where the street is empty due to a government ordered quarantine in Asuncion, Paraguay, Tuesday, April 7, 2020. (AP Photo/Jorge Saenz)
A man crosses an empty Eusebio Ayala Avenue during a curfew to curb the new coronavirus pandemic in Asuncion, Paraguay, March 16, 2020. Curfew is from 8pm to 4am. (AP Photo/Jorge Saenz)
Text from AP News Paraguay, land-locked 'ísland' amid the pandemic by Jorge Saenz.
Photos by Jorge Saenz