Ecuador reports 456 deaths and 9,022 confirmed cases of COVID-19

A driver wearing a mask is seen through a bus window in Quito, Ecuador, March 15, 2020.(Photo by Santiago Armas/Xinhua)

The Ecuadorian vice minister of governance and health surveillance, Francisco Xavier Solorzano, presented the newest report on the advance of the virus on Saturday and urged citizens to stay in their homes, as the virus "is quite contagious, aggressive" and "does not move alone, but with the movement of people."

QUITO, April 18 (Xinhua) -- The Ecuadorian Ministry of Public Health reported on Saturday 456 fatalities and 9,022 confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus in the country, with the southwestern province of Guayas as the national epicenter of the virus.

The Ecuadorian vice minister of governance and health surveillance, Francisco Xavier Solorzano, presented the newest report on the advance of the virus on Saturday and urged citizens to stay in their homes, as the virus "is quite contagious, aggressive" and "does not move alone, but with the movement of people."

The official said that 68.2 percent of cases are concentrated in Guayas, which has reported 6,150 cases and 207 deaths.

According to the ministry's report, of the total number of infected people in the country, 7,204 are stable in home isolation, 220 have been hospitalized but are in stable condition, and 134 have been hospitalized with reserved prognosis.

Ecuador, one of the Latin American countries that has been hit the hardest by the pandemic, completed a month in quarantine on Friday as the nation tries to control the virus, which first appeared in the country on Feb. 29.