Cochabamba (Bolivia) (AFP)

An alarm pierces the monotony of the ventilator beeps.

Eyes masked by two gauze bandages, the man lying on his hospital bed, unconscious, does not hear the deafening noise which, at any moment, could announce his death.

"Low oxygen pressure" indicate red letters on a screen.

"Where it is written 25, it should be written 75" for the oxygen to be sufficient, explains Dr Daniel Quispia, 36, the only doctor in charge of intensive care patients at the Hospital del Sur in Cochabamba (center) in the eponymous city, in central Bolivia.

This city of 650,000 inhabitants, nestled at an altitude of 2,600 meters, has been dramatically hit since the end of March by a third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic.

On June 9, 3,839 new cases were identified in the country of 11.8 million inhabitants, a record.

In recent months, the city has recorded an average of 850 daily cases, nearly triple the first wave in 2020.

Dr Quispia presses the buttons on the ventilator.

After a few minutes, the alarm goes off and the doctor breathes with his patient.

Its department has six beds, but only accommodates three patients due to lack of oxygen.

"It's out of control," complains the doctor.

In the city, the daily consumption of medical oxygen has increased from one ton before this latest wave, to between three and four, according to official sources.

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- "Stone heart" -

Sirens are blaring.

Police from Arbieto, a town near Cochabamba, arrive to disperse a crowd gathered around an employee at the Valle Alto oxygen filling plant.

"It's urgent!" Apologizes a woman who tries to pass the queue.

“We all came for the same reason!” Someone in the crowd replies.

Another accuses a man of having come to "do business" in an allusion to illegal dealers who buy oxygen to resell it on the internet at a high price.

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Most have a loved one with coronavirus who has been turned away in overcrowded hospitals or who, even hospitalized, has to buy oxygen.

Many have been lining up since dawn for an appointment, which will likely be given to them in four days.

More than one will leave empty-handed, and will have to look elsewhere.

“You need a heart of stone,” says plant manager Amilcar Huanca Mamani.

Residents camp at the entrance, in vehicles or in tents.

"My appointment is at 3 pm," explains Pedro Huaichu, a retiree who is looking for oxygen for his wife.

It is noon and those who had been summoned at 10:30 am are still waiting.

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- Dead in the street -

The cell phone of Dr Anibal Cruz, Secretary of Health of Cochabamba, keeps ringing.

This ex-Minister of Health tries to remain calm in the face of the sentence which constantly buzzes in his ear: "Dr, it's an emergency, we have no more oxygen!".

He wonders whether to activate the "red alert" again in hospitals, which means that staff must try to keep patients alive with a kind of bellows, until arrival. more oxygen.

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This has already helped prevent dozens of deaths.

"Awareness of the disease has been lost", barrier gestures neglected, believes Dr. Cruz.

And vaccination is progressing slowly: less than 15% of Bolivians have received a dose of the vaccine.

"Here ends the prison that was life ...", displays a sign affixed to the portal of the general cemetery of Cochabamba.

Cremation is mandatory in the event of a suspicion of death due to Covid-19, except for owners of private vaults.

"For them, we recommend that the funeral niche is never opened again", explains to AFP Lilian Scott, administrator of the cemetery.

Not long ago, you had to wait four days to cremate a body.

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Not to mention the problem of people who died in their homes or in the streets.

Between January and early June, there was throughout the country "the removal and identification of 2,094 bodies of people who died on public roads and in homes," according to the Forensic Institute of Bolivia.

© 2021 AFP