Chile vaccinates 50% of the population with at least one dose but cases continue to rise

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Yesterday, 7,357 new infections and 218 deaths were registered, one of the highest figures in the pandemic, totaling over 1.1 million cases and 24,766 deaths.

Of the more than 12 million people inoculated, more than 5 million have now been administered the two vaccine doses, mostly from the Chinese Sinovac laboratory and, to a lesser extent, from Pfizer/BioNTech.

Chile, which in March became the fastest covid-19 vaccinator in the world, is now the third country that administers the most new doses per day behind Israel and the United Arab Emirates, according to data from the University of Oxford.

Although the country has one of the most successful immunization processes in the world, with which it has managed to reduce the number of hospitalizations of the elderly, the government has not been able to halt the spread of the virus.

For weeks now, the country has been experiencing the most critical moments of the pandemic due to a second wave that worsened in March, after the vacations, which caused a sharp increase in the number of infections and has brought the hospital system to the brink of collapse.

The occupancy rate of ICU beds has been above 95% for weeks and in the last 24 hours 3,257 people have been admitted to ICUs, which means that only 214 critical beds remain free throughout the country.

In the last 24 hours, the first infection of the South African strain was also confirmed in a patient coming from South Africa, the authorities reported.

The arrival of new variants from other countries, such as Brazil or the United Kingdom, is one of the causes of the worsening of the health crisis, according to experts, which is why the authorities closed the borders on April 5th.

To curb infection, 90% of the population is under total quarantine, which means that only essential activities can be carried out and all stores are closed except for basic necessities.

Yesterday, more than 70,821 PCR tests were conducted and a national positivity rate of 9.7% was recorded – the number of infections detected for every 100 PCR tests performed.

Chile has been in a state of emergency due to a catastrophe for more than a year and a curfew is in effect from 9 PM to 5 AM.

Source: Swissinfo