Authorities in Central, Latin Americas Arrest Thousands for Violating Anti-Corona rules

Authorities in the states situate in Central America have arrested thousands of people for violating strict rules set by governments to reduce the rapidly expanding Coronavirus in an area.

Those countries are developing ones and suffer from the limited medical resources and deteriorated of the health infrastructure.

Central America house a large number of poor people who do not have the option to work remotely or take a sick leave or adhere to the rules of social separation.

Those people work in the informal economy and live in a crowded environment, especially in slums fringing the major cities in the region.

Honduran authorities said that about 2,250 people have been detained for violating the curfew in effect since mid-March.

Guatemala's authorities said they had arrested 5,705 people for leaving their homes without convincing justifications.

In Panama, more than 5,000 people have also been arrested in the past few weeks for violating the rules of curfew, and 424 others have been detained for failing to comply with rules that make men and women leave their homes on specified days alternately.

At the same time, 712 people were arrested in El Salvador for not complying with the compulsory home stone imposed by President Najib Abu Kila.

Brazil said it was closing land borders and prohibiting entry to people from European and many Pacific Asian countries to prevent the spread of the Coronavirus, as Mexico and Peru reported their first virus deaths, and Argentina announced a "preventative and compulsory" lockdown from Friday.

Brazil's Rio de Janeiro state also said it would bar people from its world famous beaches including Copacabana and Ipanema.

Chile, rocked by months of social protests, unveiled an $11.75 billion economic stimulus package to cope with the effects of the virus on the giant copper producer, but also announced it was postponing a referendum on changing its constitution.

Meanwhile, a plane operated by Spanish carrier Iberia sent to Ecuador to pick up stranded foreigners was prevented from landing at an airport in Guayaquil, which is under lockdown.

Brazil said its two-week border closure would affect all neighboring countries, with the exception of Uruguay to the south, after shutting its border with Venezuela on Tuesday.

Its new restrictions against travelers from Europe and the Asia Pacific are set to last 30 days, according to a ministerial decree.

They apply to people coming from the European Union, Britain, Iceland, Norway and Switzerland, as well as China, Japan, South Korea, Australia and Malaysia who are not Brazilian residents or do not have valid work or family reasons to travel.