COVID-19 pandemic in Venezuela

2020 coronavirus pandemic in Venezuela
Disease	COVID-19
Virus strain	SARS-CoV-2
Location	Venezuela
Index case	Travel from Spain and the United States Miranda State
Arrival date	13 March 2020 (4 years, 9 months, 3 weeks and 3 days)
Confirmed cases	2
Recovered	0
Deaths	0

This article documents the impacts of the 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic in Venezuela, and may not include all the contemporary major responses and measures.

Timeline

In February 2020, the Venezuelan government announced that the country had imposed epidemiological surveillance, restrictions and diagnostic system to detect possible coronavirus patients at the Simón Bolívar International Airport in Maiquetía, Venezuela's main international airport, and that Venezuela would receive a diagnostic kit for the virus strain from the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO).

The 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic was confirmed to have spread to Venezuela when its first two cases in the state of Miranda were announced by the Venezuelan government on 13 March 2020.

One day prior, President Nicolás Maduro had already declared a public health emergency in the country and suspended all inbound flights from Europe and Colombia for 30 days. He expressed concern as to how the country would control the pandemic, given that many private companies had declined to provide medical supplies and coronavirus test kits in fear of violating US sanctions by trading with Venezuela. Maduro called on President Trump to lift these sanctions so the country could acquire necessary medical supplies. However, he did confirm that the governments of Cuba and China agreed to supply the country with some test kits and other forms of medical assistance.

National Assembly deputy Jesús Yánez announced that the government of Taiwan donated a thousand surgical masks as a measure to prevent the coronavirus pandemic. Those masks were distributed in five stations of the Caracas Metro (Plaza Sucre, Pérez Bonalde, Plaza Venezuela, Chacao and Petare). Yánez highlighted that the metro is a means of transportation used by a large part of the population and "it is a breeding ground for the pandemic due to the crowding of people in closed spaces if any positive case should become known."

Vice-president Delcy Rodríguez announced that beginning Monday March 16 2020 classes would be cancelled at all until further notice.

International concern

See also: Health care in Venezuela and Shortages in Venezuela

International concern was also raised, as Venezuela's collapsed health care system means that its population is especially vulnerable to the spread of a pandemic. Per the Global Health Security Index, Venezuela's health system is ranked among the worst in the world in its ability to detect, quickly respond, and mitigate a pandemic. Hospitals are plagued by chronic shortages of almost everything, including eye protectors, gloves, masks, and soap. Patients are often turned away at hospitals due to overcrowding, or asked to bring in their own gauze, IV solution, or syringes. Water shortages mean there are often no hygiene facilities like toilets, and power disruptions are very common. In addition, due to the Venezuelan refugee crisis, hospitals must constantly deal with chronic staff shortages, thus making the response to treating a large number of infected patients significantly more challenging.