RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – On July 3, Chile totaled 3,880 new Covid-19 infections in 24 hours, the lowest figure recorded on a Saturday for over 6 months and evidence that the country is beginning to emerge from a serious wave of the pandemic that lasted more than 3 months.
Since March, the country has been mired in a peak of infections that pushed its health system to the limit and forced the confinement of over 90% of the population in April. However, the number of new cases has dropped by more than 20% in the past week.
The national positivity rate, the number of positive Covid-19 results per 100 PCR tests performed stood at 5.2%, also the lowest rate in over half a year, with more than 70,000 tests performed in the last day.
With the 3,880 new cases and 164 deaths in 24 hours, the total pandemic balance now stands at 1.56 million infections and 32,973 deaths. Patients admitted to intensive care units totaled 2,885 in 24 hours, leaving 287 such beds free throughout the country.
Given the slight improvement in the epidemiological situation, authorities announced the lifting of quarantine in dozens of municipalities in the country, including most of the capital region, and this restriction now affects less than 10% of the population.
The lifting of restrictions occurs concurrently with the entry of the Delta variant in Chile, of which 2 cases have been confirmed last week. The Delta variant was first detected in India last October and is becoming the dominant version of the disease worldwide.
In Chile 12,199,649 people have been inoculated with at least one dose against Covid-19, of the 15 million citizens susceptible to be vaccinated.
In terms of vaccination, Chile has deployed one of the most successful processes in the world, which to date has reached over 80% of the target population with one dose and 71% with two doses, most of them from the Chinese Sinovac laboratory.
Meanwhile, the country maintains its borders closed, a curfew from 10 PM to 5 AM (local time) and a state of emergency until next October.
Source: Infobae