Colombia faces first weekend of confinement to combat third Covid-19 wave

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The main Colombian cities began this Saturday, the first weekend of strict confinements, ordered to reduce the spread of the third wave of coronavirus after several days with more than 10,000 daily infections.

Bogotá, Medellín, and Barranquilla dawned this Saturday with traffic and transit lower than usual but higher than the first strict quarantine a year ago. At the same time, other cities, such as Cali or Cartagena de Indias, opted for a curfew and closed the beaches in the afternoon, in the case of the Caribbean city.

Colombia, one of the Latin American countries most affected by the pandemic, passed on Friday more than two and a half million cases of Covid-19, with 65,283 deaths.

Positive cases and deaths began to increase a few days before Easter, after the second peak in January. The current trend is worrying because infections increase aggressively after experiencing a long run of fewer than 5,000 cases per day.

NORMALITY IN QUARANTINE

In Bogotá, tranquility reigned this Saturday, with crowds of people in the main roads and parks exercising or walking, one of the exceptions contemplated, and police checkpoints and strong control of the authorities mainly at the exits of the city.

Several groups of tourists in the central Bolivar square were sent to their hotels by the police as they were walking in the streets, unaware of the city’s situation.

Even though Bogotá’s hospitals are still in a controlled situation, with 73.7% of the beds in the Intensive Care Units (ICU) occupied, the Mayor’s office decided to close for three days, from zero hours on Saturday, to reduce the number of contagions.

According to Mayor Claudia Lopez said today, the aim is to “help us all reduce the spread of the virus in this third wave that unfortunately is being super aggressive.”

“Part of what we have to try as a country is not to be all at the same time in a difficult situation so that at this time, for example, Bogotá can provide a back-up (support) to the regions that are in a more difficult situation as part of the solidarity that we always have,” said the mayor.

The situation is more critical in cities such as Medellín, one of the third wave’s epicenters. The capital of the department of Antioquia began a quarantine on Thursday night after entering a critical phase due to the hospital collapse with an occupancy of more than 98% in the ICU.

The biggest reduction was seen in the city’s subway on Friday, which experienced a drop of more than 50% in its trains’ occupation. However, in the streets, people are still walking, and the police reported nearly 700 calls from neighbors complaining about noise from parties and meetings last night.

CASES SHOT UP ON THE COAST

The third wave arrived strongly in the Colombian Caribbean and keeps authorities on tenterhooks, especially in the cities of Barranquilla (capital of Atlántico province) and Santa Marta (Magdalena).

Restrictions in Santa Marta began before Easter to reduce the impact that beach tourism could cause in this area. The mayor’s office imposed quarantines on alternate days and a continuous curfew.

Barranquilla was closed from Friday at 6 PM local time, and circulation was significantly reduced in the most commercial sectors of the city. However, in the southern neighborhoods, more stifled by the economic need to go out to work, people’s presence in the streets is more noticeable.

The wave of infections in this area seems to be more aggressive than the previous ones. However, the health authorities have not yet notified the presence of new strains or variants in the country, despite Brazil’s proximity and the tourist flow on the Caribbean coast.

THREE MILLION VACCINES

Meanwhile, the country remains focused on immunization efforts, with the three vaccines that have arrived in the country since mid-February: Pfizer, Sinovac, and AstraZeneca.

According to data from the Ministry of Health, 2,946,222 people have already been vaccinated, mainly healthcare workers and people over 80 years of age, those prioritized in the first phases; 744,266 of these have had both injections as of April 9.

After a slowdown at Easter, due to the holidays and the need to rest health personnel who have been working almost without a break since February 17, this week the country picked up the pace of the process again. On Friday, 133,394 vaccines were administered, most of them second doses.

However, the lack of vaccines from the Chinese company Sinovac, which has had difficulties sending new shipments to the country in the last weeks, is worrying and is a problem for those who still have to receive the second dose, especially adults over 70 years of age, although the Government has already announced that 500,000 vaccines are expected to arrive this Sunday.

Source: efe