Earlier on Friday, the health minister, Julio Mazzoleni, resigned, a day after lawmakers called for his ouster.
Mr. Mazzoleni is the latest of several top health officials across Latin America to have been forced from their jobs in recent weeks amid increasing anger over the handling of the pandemic and the slow rollout of vaccinations.
To replace him, President Mario Abdo Benítez appointed Dr. Julio Borba, a vice minister. Mr. Borba told reporters he would begin tracking down medicine and supplies immediately.
Paraguay is posting record numbers of cases daily, according to a Reuters tally, with 115 infections per 100,000 people reported in the last seven days. The country has vaccinated less than 0.1 percent of its population, according to Reuters data.