Bolivia has fewer high-risk cities amid declining COVID-19 cases

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Bolivia reported a drop in the number of high-risk cities as fewer new COVID-19 cases were reported in the past weeks, the Health Ministry said on Friday, February 19th.

The pandemic is going through a “widespread de-escalation” amid the second wave of infections, Maria Renee Castro, deputy minister of promotion, epidemiological surveillance and traditional medicine, told a press agency.

“The de-escalation of the second wave of infections means that the number of cases are going down. If people fully comply with preventive measures during the Carnival holiday (February 12th-16th), we will not experience high numbers again,” she said.

The drop in high-risk cities from 100 to 79 in the last two weeks is in line with the general decline in COVID-19 cases in the country and “in the coming weeks this figure will fall further due to the containment strategy being carried out,” the deputy minister added.

According to the ministry’s early warning index, there are now 79 cities at high risk, 57 at medium risk, 39 at low risk and 17 at initial risk.

The South American country has so far reported 239,524 cases with 11,353 deaths.