Colombia registers a double record with 28,624 infections and 545 Covid deaths (June 3)

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Colombia registered this Thursday a double record with 28,624 infections and 545 deaths due to coronavirus, in its worst day of the pandemic, which also surpassed 90,000 fatalities.

The record number of positive cases is also the third in a row, a sign that the current peak of the disease is far from coming to an end.

According to the Ministry of Health, the country has accumulated 3,488,046 cases, of which 144,446 are still active (4.14 %), while 90,353 people have died.

The highest number of infections this day was confirmed in Bogotá, with 10,511 cases, followed by the departments of Antioquia (3,125), Cundinamarca (2,661), Santander (1,465), and Valle del Cauca (1,306).

Since Easter week, Colombia has been experiencing the third and most lethal peak of the pandemic, which between April and May alone left more than 25,000 deaths due to covid-19, a figure equivalent to the country’s greatest natural tragedy, the eruption of the Nevado del Ruiz volcano, which occurred on November 13, 1985.

Regarding the deaths reported today, of which 465 occurred in previous days, the Ministry of Health said that they occurred mainly in Bogotá (168), Valle del Cauca (53) Antioquia (52), Santander (40), Cundinamarca (29), Atlántico (23), Norte de Santander (22), Bolivar (16), Nariño and Córdoba (13), Boyacá (12), Magdalena (11) and Tolima (10).

The regions with the most confirmed cases are still Bogotá, with 992,917 cases, followed by Antioquia (550,155), Atlántico (274,446), Valle del Cauca (273,026), Cundinamarca (171,254), Santander (138,350) and Bolívar (106,805).

Today, 97,001 samples were processed, of which 53,823 were PCR samples and 43,178 antigen samples, for a total of 17.3 million tests performed.

ECONOMIC RECOVERY AND VACCINATION

While Colombia is going through the deadliest peak of the pandemic, the Government announced today a new decree regulating the reactivation of all sectors of the economy and the country’s reopening.

This plan contemplates two scenarios: one for cities that are above 85% occupancy of intensive care units (ICU), where the main biosecurity restrictions will remain in force, and another for those whose percentage is below 85%.

Colombia also received Thursday 909,600 doses of the vaccine against covid-19 from the laboratory AstraZeneca, through the multilateral mechanism Covax, and a batch of 539,370 doses from Pfizer, making a total of 16,227,214 doses.

As of yesterday, the country had applied 10,697,683 vaccines, of which 3,338,638 correspond to second doses, according to data from the Ministry of Health, which informed that 314,716 people were immunized in the country on Wednesday.