Since the start of the crisis in late March, the government has recovered 1,350 bodies from Guayaquil’s homes, according to the office of Jorge Wated, who heads the task force responsible for picking up the dead in the city. About 60 bodies are collected daily, his office said.

The virus tore through luxurious gated communities and poor, hillside neighborhoods. Within days, the explosion of mortality overwhelmed the authorities, and hundreds of bodies began to accumulate in hospitals, morgues and homes.

Lourdes Frías said she spent five days trying to get someone to collect the body of an elderly neighbor who died last week after having respiratory problems. Emergency phone lines were constantly busy, she said; on the rare occasions when she got through, she was told no one was available to help.

As the days went on, others in her building in the Socio Vivienda neighborhood of Guayaquil began to clamor for the body to be taken to the street. The police eventually removed the remains.

“Our situation is a nightmare from which we are unable to wake up,” Ms. Frías said.

The surge in deaths in Guayaquil — and the images circulating on social media of bodies wrapped in plastic and left on doorsteps — has exposed the pandemic’s potential impact on the poor in developing countries, where access to health care and other resources is faulty even in the best of times.