LIMA – Seated in a wheelchair at one of Peru's oldest hospitals, 84-year-old Emma Salvador struggled for each breath, aided by an oxygen mask pinching her face.
Her son fanned her with folded sheets of paper, wishing he could do more. “Seeing her in such pain is what overwhelms me,” said José Gonzalez, 57, who confessed fearing that the worst outcome awaited his mother, while encouraging her to drink some water.
This scene Friday at the Dos de Mayo Hospital in Lima depicts just one of the 13,489 new coronavirus cases in the South American country, which faces a growing number of patients desperate for emergency attention.