With recent surge, Uruguay battles to contain coronavirus

When Eduardo Rey celebrated his 69th birthday with 10 family members in Uruguay’s capital, he didn’t suspect it would start a mortal race to find medical care amid a surging pandemic

MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay -- When Eduardo Rey celebrated his 69th birthday at home with 10 family members in Uruguay's capital, he didn't suspect it would start a mortal race to find medical care amid a surging pandemic Two days after the party, the farmer came down with a fever, was coughing and felt weak. At first he and his family thought nothing of it, but then a relative who had been at the party tested positive for the coronavirus. When Rey tested positive his family tried repeatedly to get help from a doctor on the public health care telephone, but they couldn't get one to visit his home. His family eventually took him to a hospital themselves but they were told his lungs were badly damaged. On April 21, a month after his birthday, Rey died of respiratory insufficiency in an ICU in Montevideo, joining more than 3,000 people who have died of COVID-19 in Uruguay since March. While the number may seem small for other countries, it is huge in this South American country of just 3.5 million inhabitants and gives it one of the highest per capita coronavirus death rates in the world, according the Our World in Data.