Covid-19: Bolivia reports eight consecutive weeks of increase in cases

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Bolivia recorded eight consecutive weeks of increase of Covid-19 cases, marking the fourth escalation of contagions, the Ministry of Health established on Monday.

In the last week, a national increase of 13% in infections was reported. However, unlike the previous week, some regions showed a reduction of cases, and others maintained an upward trend.

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The departments with an increase in infections were Santa Cruz with 20%, Pando 544%, Chuquisaca 4%, Cochabamba 5%, La Paz 6%, Tarija 24%, while Potosi, Oruro, and Beni showed decreases of -33%, -13% and -4%, respectively.

On the last day, Bolivia registered 411 new disease cases and six deaths, with Santa Cruz, the country’s largest and most populated department, as the most affected region during this fourth wave of infections, according to the most recent daily report.

The fourth episode of infections in the country, with days in which the number of reported cases exceeded 1,000, has a case fatality rate of 0.8%, which is much lower than the first peak in 2020 of 6.2%, and the second and third that occurred in the first semester of this year of 2.7% and 2.8%, successively.

The vaccination process that began at the end of January has resulted in the application of 8,336,770 doses of Sinopharm and Sputnik V vaccines, acquired by state purchases and AstraZeneca, Pfizer, and Janssen, which were donations channeled through the United Nations Covax mechanism.

Of this amount, 3,927,724 are first doses, 3,072,464 are second applications, 363,267 are booster immunizations, and 977,499 are single-dose vaccines supplied to those over 12 years of age who make up the country’s vaccine-eligible population.

To this should be added the arrival of 1.9 million Moderna vaccines announced by the Bolivian Government for the following weeks.

Vaccination coverage is 64% for first doses and 56% for second applications.

The country has accumulated 19,068 deaths, 529,486 confirmed cases since the arrival of the pandemic in March last year, and 23,370 cases remain active.