RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – January brought a coronavirus case surge in Latin America. After a drop in the curve in October and November, in December and early January the numbers increased again, coinciding with Christmas shopping, a relaxation of quarantine and the start of the summer vacation season in the Southern Cone.
It is yet unclear whether the region is experiencing the onset of a second wave or a worsening of the first after a few weeks of respite. While the region is waiting for the arrival of the first vaccine doses – only Argentina, Mexico, Chile and Costa Rica have started immunization campaigns – the solution available continues to be quarantine. However, governments are facing social resistance to new confinements.
For the first time since the pandemic emerged in March, Argentina is considering decreeing a curfew; Mexico has limited activities in the capital to essential ones; Colombia has decided to confine one-third of Bogotá’s population.
São Paulo, the Brazilian city most affected by infections, will decide on Friday whether or not to harden restrictions: Brazil currently has suffered over 197,000 deaths. Despite the alarming and rising numbers, President Jair Bolsonaro strolled along crowded beaches with no mask during the end-of-year holidays.
Strategies do not differ much from those employed almost a year ago. Argentine President Alberto Fernández admitted he was “concerned”. On Monday, he criticized young people for not taking care of themselves and spreading Covid-19 among the elderly, the most vulnerable to the disease. The Argentine Ministry of Health’s latest report identified 8,222 new cases in the past 24 hours, figures similar to the harsh months of July and August.
Among the infected, 53.4% are under 39 years of age. The situation has escalated in Buenos Aires’ Atlantic coast resorts: television news reports show tens of thousands of young people partying all day long on the beach, with no masks or distance. For the first time since March, the Casa Rosada is considering the imposition of a night-time curfew, an extreme measure it has been trying to avoid due to the negative impact it has on a country that lived under a dictatorship.
“The risk of everything paralyzing again is here and no one in Argentina wants this to happen”, cautioned Fernández. With almost 1.7 million positive and 145,000 active cases, the alarms are on, although the health system seems far from collapsing: the last balance shows that the ICU bed occupancy rate stands at 53%.
Mexico has also begun to isolate the regions most affected by the pandemic. Official figures rose again and in December the government ordered the suspension of non-essential activities in Mexico City. Images of downtown streets with hundreds of people shopping were seen weeks before the announcement.
However, authorities waited until hospital occupancy reached 74% to suspend commercial activities. Since then, coronavirus patients have not ceased to reach hospitals, and the growing volume of demand for medical care is now close to 90%. The state of Mexico, neighboring the capital and the industrial hub of the country, has also decided to interrupt business activities.
Mexican states bordering the United States, such as Baja California and Nuevo León, also joined the closure. The border with the United States has been closed for months to the passage of people who do not work in essential activities, and the measure has been extended until January 21st.
On Christmas Eve, the country began the administration of Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine to healthcare professionals. By the end of January, 1.4 million people are expected to be vaccinated and then the vaccination of people over 60 years of age will begin.
With the end-of-year holidays, domestic and international tourism has crowded the main Mexican resorts: Cancún, Acapulco and Los Cabos. Although business remained partially closed, hotel occupancy stood at between 60% and 80%. The drop in tourist services prices and the milder restrictions made the country a destination for the season.
Mexico became the third most visited tourist destination in the world during 2020. The closures will remain in place at least until January 11th, when authorities will again assess the situation of a country that fails to see Covid-19 infections abate.
Yellow phase in São Paulo
In Brazil, the State of São Paulo, with 45 million inhabitants, a population equivalent to that of Argentina, switched on Monday from the red to yellow phase, in which all activities are authorized, but subject to restrictions on schedules and capacity. However, the pandemic figures in Brazil do not cease to grow: the Ministry of Health in December recorded 76% more positive cases and 66% more deaths than in November. The São Paulo government announced that on Friday it will decide whether or not to again close its economy.
The situation in Colombia is no better. In Bogotá, where the ICU bed occupancy rate has been rising since December, one-third of its population on Tuesday returned to a rigid quarantine – with a curfew between 8 PM and 5 AM – that will remain in force until at least January 17th. In three of the 20 locations in the Colombian capital – Suba, Engativá and Usaquén -, the ICU bed occupancy rate stands at 82%.
Given the surge in cases, Medellín and Cali also began the new year with containment measures. Colombia records almost 44,000 deaths linked to Covid-19 and accumulates approximately 1.7 million confirmed cases, one-third of them in the capital.
In Chile, infections increased by 32% over the past week, reaching figures similar to those in May, reports Rocío Montes. The increase coincided with Christmas shopping, end-of-year parties and the start of vacations. The Ministry of Health reported on Monday that 2,450 new cases were recorded within the past 24 hours. On January 1st, it was 3,588. At the peak of the pandemic in mid-June, infections reached 6,938 in one day.
Chile began the administration of the Pfizer vaccine to healthcare professionals on the front lines of the fight against the virus during Christmas. However, focus is on President Sebastian Piñera’s decision to authorize vacations to approximately ten million people who live in confinement areas. On Monday alone, over 26,000 travel permits were granted, 74% of them in the capital, with the resulting risk of spreading the virus.
Source: El Pais