MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 29th July, 2020) COVID-19 was confirmed among 15 protesters who joined a Tuesday rally against the postponement of the presidential election in Bolivia, Defense Minister Fernando Lopez has said.
The Supreme Electoral Court, due to COVID-19, has postponed the presidential elections in Bolivia from September 6 to October 18. The move prompted thousands of people, among them miners and coca growers, to join the Tuesday rally and march from the city of El Alto to La Paz, as they protested the delay. A major trade union, Bolivian Workers' Center (COB), announced an indefinite general strike at the end of the protest and demanded to hold elections in September.
"Fifteen people tested positive [for the coronavirus] ... We will transport them to the health center so that they stop spreading the disease, today they have already infected a lot of people," Lopez told reporters on Tuesday following his meeting with Bolivia's interim President Jeanine Anez.
Anez said that protests organized by trade unions were "irresponsible" amid the ongoing health crisis.
The COB has previously refused the government's accusations that protests would lead to a surge in COVID-19 cases and instead blamed authorities for the high infection rate.
Bolivia has so far confirmed over 72,000 coronavirus cases, nearly 22,000 recovered and more than 2,700 related deaths.
