Doctor Bolivar Jalca, who is treating patients experiencing symptoms consistent with COVID-19, poses for a photograph outside Manglaralto Hospital, during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Manglaralto, Ecuador, May 2, 2020. REUTERS/Vicente Gaibor del Pino SEARCH "RURAL ECUADOR COVID-19" FOR THIS STORY. SEARCH "WIDER IMAGE" FOR ALL STORIES.
CHANDUY, Ecuador (Reuters) - When a group of villagers in the Ecuadorean fishing community of El Real came down with coughs and fevers in early April, nobody was sure if they had the coronavirus - and no health workers were available to diagnose or treat them.
Their local doctor, like many of rural Ecuador's health workers, had been transferred to the country's biggest city, Guayaquil. There, the COVID-19 pandemic had overwhelmed hospitals and left authorities struggling to collect bodies.
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