We have an important group of officers and troops infected with Covid-19, more than 160 troops who have been accompanying the brigades house by house, said General Padrino López during a military act in Caracas.

He also argued that several of the soldiers caught the disease at border posts with Colombia and Brazil, where they receive Venezuelan migrants who return to the country after becoming unemployed in the midst of the pandemic.

We have been very close to the virus, but it is our duty to contain, contribute to all tasks to prevent and cut the chains of contagion, said Padrino López, recently ratified by President Nicolás Maduro in the position he occupies. since 2014.

On Friday, the Venezuelan government extended the "state of alarm" for the fourth time for 30 days, seeking to control an "outbreak." The measure provides a legal basis to extend the quarantine decreed since March 16.

Venezuela experiences a "worrying" increase in cases, according to Maduro himself.

On Thursday, Chavismo number two, Diosdado Cabello, and the governor of the oil state of Zulia (west), Omar Prieto, confirmed that they had contracted Covid-19. A day later, the oil minister, Tareck El Aissami, Maduro's close collaborator, also reported his contagion.