[6] Venezuela is particularly vulnerable to the wider effects of the pandemic because of its ongoing socioeconomic and political crisis causing massive shortages of food staples and basic necessities, including medical supplies.

[22] It was on the first day of the quarantine across six states, 16 March, that Argentina's ambassador in Venezuela, Eduardo Porretti, tested positive for the virus,[23] and Nicolás Maduro announced that sixteen new cases were confirmed, bringing the total to 33.

[32][33] Also on 27 March, Delcy Rodríguez met with Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago Keith Rowley, with the meeting focused on the strategy being deployed in both countries to combat the pandemic.

[34] There was also controversy on this day when NGO PROVEA revealed that around ninety people coming from Cúcuta, Colombia, were forcefully isolated on 25 March by the National Guard in Barqusimeto, Lara, without food or proper sanitary conditions.

[53] Opposition and health care workers in Maracaibo announced on the fourth week of June that hospitals in the city were filled and dozens of doctors and nursed were infected.

[49] Diosdado Cabello, vice-president of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela and president of the pro-government Constituent National Assembly announced he tested positive for COVID-19 on 9 July.

[67] Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino López announced that, effective from 16 March, the Armed Forces would control access to the six states and the Capital District declared by Nicolás Maduro to be in quarantine.

[31] On 20 March, Maduro said that Russia was considering "a significant donation of special humanitarian aid" to the country, such as medical equipment and kits for the diagnosis of COVID-19, which were expected to arrive by the following week.

[76] On 23 March, Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza and Russian ambassador Sergei Melik-Bagdasarov announced that 10,000 diagnosis kits had been delivered from Russia, with more to be supplied in future shipments.

[86] In March 2020, National Assembly deputy Jesús Yánez announced that the government of Taiwan donated 1,000 surgical masks as a measure to prevent the coronavirus pandemic.

Yánez highlighted that the metro is a means of transportation used by a large part of the population and is a breeding ground for the pandemic due to the crowding of people in closed spaces, should any one of them be carrying the virus.

[97] The Health Ministry certified the microbiology laboratory of the University of the Andes, in Mérida state, to start carrying out tests to detect the presence of SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus responsible for the COVID-19 disease, on 18 March.

[107][108][109] Outlets have also reported on the violation of the quarantine for reasons such as buying food, medicines, and both cleaning and hygiene products, as well as the public services crisis, including the lack of drinking water, electric power, cooking gas, telephone signal and waste collection.

[114] The US Acting Assistant Secretary for Western Hemisphere Affairs Michael Kozak also accused Maduro of lying, saying that U.S. sanctions never block food or medicine purchases.

"[115][116] On 24 March, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet called for any sanctions imposed on Venezuela and other countries facing the pandemic such as Cuba, Iran, and Zimbabwe to be "urgently reevaluated" in order to avoid pushing strained medical systems into collapse.

In a statement, Bachelet said: "At this crucial time, both for global public health reasons, and to support the rights and lives of millions of people in these countries, sectoral sanctions should be eased or suspended.

[120] International concern was raised before the first cases were reported, as Venezuela's health care system has completely collapsed due to the ongoing crisis, meaning its already suffering population is especially vulnerable to the spread of a pandemic.

[122] Due to ongoing shortages of resources, hospitals must also constantly deal with chronic lack of staff, thus making the response to treating a large number of infected patients significantly more challenging.

[122] Patients are also often turned away at hospitals due to overcrowding, or asked to bring in their own gauze, IV solution, or syringes, while there are often no hygiene facilities like toilets, and power outages are a regular occurrence.

Venezuelan prisons frequently lack bathrooms, people sleep on floors, and many inmates spend their days without shirts or shoes on, in part to combat the infernal heat of windowless facilities.

According to Carlos Nieto Palma from the NGO Ventana a la Libertad, the suspension of visits directly affects the prisoner's nutrition, given that there was no state-sponsored program to feed them.

[135] Agence France Presse has fact checked this information and has cataloged Quintero's works as misleading and false, no natural cure has either been approved by other specialists nor by the World Health Organization.

[136] Throughout March and July 2020, Maduro and his administration have accused Colombia of promoting the "intentional infection" of Venezuelan migrants that returned to their country, saying they were "biological weapon" and threatening them with quarantine.

[142] Venezuela's National Academy of Medicine stated that Carvativir had therapeutic potential against coronavirus but warned that, according to international protocols, more data was needed to consider it an anti-COVID-19 medication.

[154] The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet, when discussing Cuba, North Korea, Venezuela and Zimbabwe, called for the easing of sanctions to enable their medical systems to combat COVID-19.

[162] The Academy of Physical, Mathematical and Natural Science [es] (Spanish: Academia de Ciencias Físicas, Matemáticas y Naturales) warned that on 2 April the epidemiological curves of Venezuela were unusual, saying that there was just a linear increase of accumulated confirmed cases, a pattern that is atypical for the initial phase of COVID-19 outbreaks.

[164] On 13 March, Delta Amacuro indigenous leader and journalist Melquiades Ávila, who has criticized health infrastructure in the country, questioned publicly through Facebook "will our hospital be ready for coronavirus?"

[167] According to a Human Rights Watch report, healthcare worker Andrea Sayago was coerced to resign after the photos she shared of their first coronavirus cases through WhatsApp, a private messaging service, were leaked through social media in April.

[167] On the night of 21 March 2020, journalist Darvinson Rojas was arrested at his home in Caracas by officials of the Bolivarian National Police (PNB) and around fifteen armed personnel from the Special Actions Force (FAES).

"[176][175] The National Assembly defended the academy and answered that "Providing scientific facts in an unbiased way for the well-being of our people who are suffering the worst crisis in our history, is a heroic act that deserves to be recognized by all Venezuelans.