Peru Coronavirus crisis is causing Emergency call center saturation

Peru's president has warned that misuing a national emergency phone line to deal with the new coronavirus pandemic would be punished.

"(There will be) sanctions for those who misuse the 113-emergency line," he said noting the line went from receiving around three thousand phonecalls a day to some 80-thousand in aftermath of the outbreak.

Tens of thousands of the calls are said to have been fake and some 140 phone lines suspended so far.

Peru's Health Ministry will hire 1,200 new operators to respond to the crisis to attend to not just COVID-19 related questions but also provide mental health services.

Peru has 416 confirmed cases of the coronavirus with seven deaths.

For most people, the new coronavirus causes only mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough.

For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia.

The pandemic has infected more than 417,000 people and killed over 18,600.

More than 107,000 people have recovered so far, mostly in China.