With hospitals 'close to collapse,' Bogota doctors call for city-wide quarantine

FILE PHOTO: Members of the medical team prepare the items to practice tests for the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in one of the neighbourhoods where the mayor's office decreed strict quarantine, amidst an outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Bogota, Colombia July 14, 2020. REUTERS/Luisa Gonzalez

BOGOTA (Reuters) - Doctors in Bogota are calling for a return to a strict city-wide quarantine to slow coronavirus infections in Colombia's capital, warning that medical services are close to collapsing, a leading medic said on Thursday.

The Andean country has reported over 165,000 cases of the coronavirus and around 6,000 deaths. Bogota accounts for more than a third of the country's total cases and over 20% of its deaths.