Ecuador to Take Part in Clinical Trials for COVID-19 Vaccine

Ecuador's Health Ministry Juan Carlos Zevallos Wednesday announced that his country will take part in clinical trials of the Covax vaccine, one of the main projects to achieve a cure against COVID-19.

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"We are about to sign the participation of the Ecuadorean population in clinical trials, to speed up their commercialization processes," Zevallos explained.

This announcement comes after several conversations with the managers of the Covax project. It is a "synthetic" vaccine, which would produce fewer side effects, according to Zevallos.

However, the population is concerned about the health authorities' leadership on this issue, as the numbers of coronavirus cases in the Andean nation continue to rise.

So far, Ecuador has recorded 83,193 confirmed cases and 5,623 people who have died from COVID-19. Quito, the capital city, registered the country's highest number of cases with 12,947, followed by Guayaquil with 11,907.

From Tuesday to Wednesday, this Andean country reported 914 new infections and 39 confirmed deaths from COVID-19.

In June, after almost four months of quarantine, Ecuador eased the restrictions to face the pandemic. Authorities launched a down-scaling mechanism called "epidemiological traffic light" to expand human mobility.

This measure replaced the strict quarantine with a physical distancing that the population partially complies with, amid a state of emergency decreed by President Lenin Moreno on March 16, which has been extended frequently.