# First COVID-19 case in Suriname (13 March 2020)

URL: https://allhistories.com/suriname/timeline/2020-first-covid-19-case-in-suriname
Location: Paramaribo
Themes: main-event

On 13 March 2020 Suriname confirmed its first case of COVID-19, a person who had recently travelled from the Netherlands. Borders and airports were closed to passengers on 14 March and schools on 16 March. A partial lockdown and an evening curfew were announced on 28 March, and the first death was reported on 3 April. The country declared itself free of active cases on 3 May 2020, then saw cases rise through the year, with a full lockdown in June. Vaccines arrived through COVAX and donations from India in March 2021, and the Netherlands pledged 700,000 doses in May 2021. By the end of the pandemic the toll was about 1,400 deaths. The pandemic hit as the country faced an economic crisis and an election. It limited public events at the 2020 handover of power and pushed the new government toward emergency borrowing and reform. Schools, shops and borders had to be closed repeatedly, and the economy shrank by almost sixteen percent that year.

## Why it matters
It arrived during an economic crisis and shaped the first months of the Santokhi government.

Ruler at the Time: [Desi Bouterse (President)](https://allhistories.com/suriname/rulers/desi-bouterse)

## Sources
- [Wikipedia — COVID-19 pandemic in Suriname](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COVID-19_pandemic_in_Suriname)
- [Wikipedia — 2020 Surinamese general election](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_Surinamese_general_election)