The Government of Ecuador decreed Thursday night a state of emergency in eight of the 24 provinces of the country

Quito, April 2 (RHC)-- The Government of Ecuador decreed Thursday night a state of emergency in eight of the 24 provinces of the country for 30 days, in order to control the increase of COVID-19 disease infections.

In a message posted on his Twitter social network account, Ecuadorian President Lenín Moreno indicated that there will be a curfew in the eight affected provinces, from 20:00 to 05:00 local time, from April 2nd to the 9th.

"I have signed Decree 1282 declaring a State of Exception for 30 days in the provinces of Pichincha, Guayas, Manabí, Azuay, Loja, Santo Domingo, El Oro and Esmeraldas.  The pandemic does not end, we must take care of ourselves!" tweeted the president.

Ecuador, with 17 million inhabitants, registered in the last 24 hours 1,633 new cases of COVID-19, accumulating 330,388 infected since the beginning of the pandemic.  Likewise, a total of 16,877 people died from the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, after adding 30 deaths during the day, according to official statistics.

The governor announced the state of emergency decree after the National Emergency Operations Committee (COE) made this recommendation on Thursday, with the aim of trying to avoid saturating the country's hospital capacity in the face of the increase in cases.

With the curfew, it is forbidden to circulate on public roads and spaces in the eight provinces included, according to the COE.  In addition, public meetings will not be authorized in order to avoid crowds.