17 cops die of coronavirus in Peru
Seventeen cops in Peru have died after contracting novel coronavirus while enforcing the country's pandemic lockdown, officials and state media said.
Authorities admitted earlier this week that at least 1,300 officers have been infected by COVID-19.
On Saturday new interior minister Gaston Rodriguez, who was simply sworn per day earlier following the sudden resignation of his predecessor when the infections tally emerged, said: "We have 17 deceased cops nationwide, 11 of them in Lima."
The lot is associated with "the exposure that cops have when intervening with persons who violate the measures issued to support the spread of the coronavirus," state news agency Andina said Saturday.
Peru has been on lockdown since March 16. Rodriguez said his department had allocated 50 million soles ($15 million) "for the purchase of protection components such as for example masks and gloves" for Peru's police.
He added that roughly 220,000 COVID-19 tests for the force were because of arrive by the first week of May. "We have an obligation to manage them," said Rodriguez. "The police must be well equipped." Peru has recorded a lot more than 25,000 infections and 700 deaths so far, according to a count by Johns Hopkins University in america.
