For the third time, President Danilo Medina will address the nation on the coronavirus on Friday evening. The speech has been scheduled for 9pm on Friday, 17 April 2020.
The President has not been available for interviews from the press. This has been a constant throughout his entire two terms in the Presidency. His term is scheduled to end 16 August 2020. Leading polls show the opposition candidate well ahead of the government party-backed candidate in voters voting preferences.
President Danilo Medina in his state of the nation address on 27 February 2020 had announced the inauguration of numerous public hospitals. In that speech he did not mention the coronavirus threat. Then, on 17 March, he addressed the country on the measures that would be taken to combat the virus. The first case had been confirmed on 1 March. On 25 March, he again addressed the country on the coronavirus. The President has not again referred to the hospitals he said would be inaugurated, including the Luis Eduardo Aybar 600-bed medical center that he had announced would be inaugurated on 10 March.
The Minister of Public Health has responded to questions by around five journalists per day after reading the findings released in the daily announcement of the coronavirus bulletin. The coordinator of the High Commission for the Prevention of Coronavirus, Presidency Minister Gustavo Montalvo nor the director of the Emergency and Health Management Committee neither have been available to answer questions from the press.
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El Dia
17 April 2020