- At least 150 rotting corpses left on street or in homes of relatives in Guayaquil
- Ecuador’s official death toll hit 172 with 3,500 cases but many fear it is higher
- Residents were forced to use cardboard boxes as coffins due to high demand
- WARNING GRAPHIC CONTENT
Bodies are being left to rot on the side of the road as officials struggle to cope with coronavirus deaths in an Ecuadorian city.
At least 150 corpses were left on the street or kept in the homes of grieving relatives in Guayaquil as the deadly bug ravages the horror-struck port city.
The bodies were placed on the roadside in the desperate hope that authorities would be able to take them away but removals take up to three days due to a backlog.
Residents were even forced to use cardboard boxes as coffins as Ecuador’s official death toll hit 172 with at least 3,500 confirmed cases.
Ecuador’s vice president Otto Sonnenholzner apologised after residents posted images and videos of the bodies onto social media.
Authorities collected at least 150 of the corpses earlier this week, but did not confirm how many of the dead were victims of the outbreak.
Ecuador reported 3,646 cases of the coronavirus on Sunday, including 180 deaths, the majority of them occurring in Guayaquil and its surrounding province of Guayas.
The government has imposed a state of emergency and introduced a nightly curfew in an effort to contain the spread of the disease.