An angry crowd of around 300 people attempted to storm the Social Security Institute hospital yesterday in Motozintla, Chiapas, after a third patient in the town was diagnosed with the coronavirus. 

They demanded to examine the newly-diagnosed patient themselves to determine whether he really had the virus, but doctors and nurses refused them entry.

Friends and family members of the infected patient advocated for his “rescue” from the hospital on social media, convinced that the coronavirus diagnosis is a government conspiracy and health authorities are trying to kill people.

The call to action was spread on the “Mercado Libre Motozintla” Facebook page, which normally functions as a sort of virtual yard sale, where messages urged supporters to leave their homes and march to the hospital.

“Coronavirus is a lie, let’s not fall for it,” one member posted.

The crowd also demanded the stay-at-home guidelines be lifted because, they said, the virus does not actually exist.

The protesters gathered at the health center and demanded a meeting with the hospital’s director and the region’s political representative.

Hospital personnel called in the army and the National Guard to help defuse the situation.

But some Facebook group members were against the protest. “Motozintla has not understood the danger involved in continuing to expose oneself, not complying with the prevention measures against Covid-19, and people continue to believe that this disease does not exist or is a government lie,” one member wrote. “Hopefully soon people will stop believing in email chains and videos that a random person invents just to generate panic.”

Source: El Universal (sp)