Coronavirus live news: WHO chief says lab leak theory worth examining further; Quito hospitals overwhelmed

US releases statement with 13 allies saying WHO inquiry lacks data; hospitals in Ecuador capital working above capacity to treat Covid patients, say doctors

The US and the UK have sharply criticised a World Health Organization report into the beginnings of the coronavirus pandemic in Wuhan, implicitly accusing China of “withholding access to complete, original data and samples”.

The statement, also signed by 12 other countries including Australia and Canada, came hard on the heels of an admission on Tuesday by the head of the WHO, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, that the investigation was “not extensive enough” and experts had struggled to access raw information during their four-week visit to Wuhan in January.

Related: UK and US criticise WHO's Covid report and accuse China of withholding data

Ecuador’s health system is under severe strain from a spike in Covid and some hospitals in the capital Quito are working above capacity to treat patients, doctors said on Tuesday.

Ecuador suffered a brutal outbreak of coronavirus in early 2020, primarily in the largest city of Guayaquil. Authorities controlled the situation after several months, but in recent weeks have seen cases jump in cities around the country.

“The saturation of the health system is not only in Quito but at the national level,” Dr. Victor Alvarez, president of the doctors association of the state of Pichincha, where Quito is located, told reporters. “Seeing images of patients lying on the ground, or perhaps on a military mattress, receiving oxygen in emergency units, that’s sad.”

In some Quito hospitals, entire families wait in emergency areas in hopes of being given an open bed, Dr. Edison Ramos, a coordinator at Carlos Andrade Marin hospital, said in a local TV interview.

Ecuador registered 2,201 new infections in the last 24 hours, raising the total number of cases to 327,325, according to official data. A total of 16,780 people either died of Covid or were suspected of having it but passed away before being diagnosed.

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Coronavirus | The Guardian

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