English text below 厄瓜多尔人口最多的城市，瓜亚基尔，有两百六十万市民，是厄瓜多尔西部太平洋海边的一个港口城市。瓜亚基尔现在面临一个很棘手的问题：被遗弃的死尸不时出现在街头。那些街头躺尸的视频和照片正在全世界的社交媒体上疯传。
厄瓜多尔有3,000多已确诊的新冠病例，其中多半都在瓜亚基尔。由于缺少检测试剂，专家们说实际感染案例应该比3000高得多。瓜亚基尔的医院都已爆满，很多病人住不进医院，得不到治疗，导致一些病人病死在家里或街头。
死者家属现在很难买到棺材，因为做棺材的工厂缺乏原材料。厄瓜多尔全国已居家限行，除了食物、药品等必需品外，大部分物资，包括做棺材的木料，都已停运。
那些少数买到棺材的幸运儿面临另外一个问题：没人上门运走装有尸体的棺材。在新冠疫情爆发前，市政工人每天大概运30具死尸去医院，让医护人员确认死亡原因。现在每天有150具死尸需要被送去医院检查，市政工人和医生都忙不过来。
在处理死尸的过程中还有一大瓶颈：拉美没有火葬的习惯。拉美人大多是天主教徒，而天主教徒因为宗教原因都不会选择火葬。拉美的习俗是在殡仪馆举办完葬礼后，死者连棺材一起入土埋葬。瓜亚基尔本来有120多家殡仪馆，但现在只有20来家仍开门营业，其它的全关了，因为大部分殡仪馆老板怕被新冠病毒传染，不想为赚几个钱把命搭上。结果等着开葬礼的死尸越积越多。
瓜亚基尔靠近赤道，是一座炎热潮湿的港口城市。死尸放在家里，很快便开始腐烂，奇臭无比。死者亲属没有办法，只好把装有尸体的棺材遗弃在街头。没能买到棺材的家庭就只能塑料裹尸后遗弃街头。
瓜亚基尔和整个厄瓜多尔的新冠疫情在未来几周会更为严峻。
#How the coronavirus let the dead bodies pile up in the streets of this big Latin American city#
Guayaquil, the western port city of Ecuador with 2.6 million people, is the most populous city in the country. Now the city has a big problem: dead bodies are left in the streets. The videos of those dead bodies left in the streets have gone viral on social media all over the world.
Guayaquil has more than half of 3,000 plus confirmed COVID-19 cases in Ecuador. This number is much lower than the actual infected cases due to the lack of testing kits, according to the experts. COVID-19 has caused the collapse of the health system of the city. Many sick people couldn't be checked into hospitals as all the hospitals are full. Some of these sick people died either in their own homes or in the streets while waiting for hospital beds.
The relatives of the people who died have had problem buying coffins, which have been in short supply due to the lack of raw materials after the quarantine has impeded the transportation of most goods.
The lucky ones who somehow got hold of coffins have another problem on hand: no one comes over to pick up the coffins. Before the outbreak, the government officials used to pick up 30 dead bodies a day, with or without coffins, and transport them to hospitals for the medicos to determine the cause of death. Now they have to pick up and examine about 150 dead bodies a day. The work starts to pile up and it takes longer than ever for the dead bodies to be picked up.
One more bottleneck in the process of handling the dead bodies is that cremation is uncommon in Latin America. Most people in Latin America are Catholics and Catholics don't do cremation because of religious reasons. The dead bodies are buried underground after the Funeral Services are performed in the funeral homes. In Guayaquil, only 20 out of 120 funeral homes are still open as most owners of funeral homes closed the shop for the fear of being infected by the coronavirus. Again dead bodies pile up while waiting for the Funeral Service to be performed by the few funeral homes that are still open.
Guayaquil is a hot and humid port city near the equator. Dead bodies decompose almost immediately and the stench becomes unbearable very fast. People have no choice but to carry the dead bodies, with or without coffins, out of their homes and leave them on the street.
The situation in Guayaquil and Ecuador will get worse in the coming weeks before it gets better.
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