EDEHN

Luis Enrique Escalante, Helene Maisonnave

The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic was an unexpected outbreak that disproportionately affected the world’s most fragile economies (Sayeh & Chami, 2020). In Latin American countries, the epidemic threatens to wipe out much of the progress made in recent decades in terms of poverty reduction, economic growth and gender equality. Like most countries in the world, Bolivia adopted measures such as social distancing and economic lockdowns to prevent the transmission and spread of the COVID-19 virus through the population in late March 2020. A total quarantine was thus declared through Supreme Decree No. 4199,1 which was characterised by an initial 14-day national lockdown starting at midnight on the 22nd of March 2020. This strict quarantine was periodically extended2 to prevent the further spread of the virus until the 10th of May 2020, and thereafter, a ‘dynamic quarantine’ was maintained, allowing for the gradual relaxation of the containment measures, mainly in those Bolivian regions and cities less affected by the virus. The amendments outlined containment measures relating to (a) closure of air, land, river and lake borders ; (b) suspension of international flights ; (c) temporary suspension of all on-site classes ; (d) suspension of public events, cultural and sporting activities, and all types of meetings that generate crowds ; and (e) restrictions on the movement of people and goods. At the end of August 2020, through Supreme Decree No. 4314, the Bolivian government began the postconfinement phase and started to open up the economy, although this was to be done gradually.