coronavirus in this town long fabled for being inaccessible from the rest of the world.READ MORE: Short supply of medical oxygen worldwide leaves many gasping for airThere are no commercial flights to Timbuktu, whose remote location in the Sahara Desert has long made the town’s name synonymous with the ends of the Earth.Health officials say the global pandemic has managed to reach here all the same.
Already there are more than 500 cases including at least nine deaths, making it Mali’s largest outbreak outside the capital.At the local hospital, a cluster of tents set up outside now houses 32 COVID-19 patients.
There isn’t a single ventilator available. Temperatures regularly soar above 45 degrees Celsius, adding to the patients’ misery as.