Paraguay extends pandemic sanitary measures until February 1

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Paraguay extended until February 1 the sanitary measures due to the exponential increase of covid-19 cases due to the entry into the country of the omicron variant of covid-19, according to the Executive decree released on Tuesday.

With the signature of the Paraguayan President, Mario Abdo Benítez, who on Tuesday tested positive for covid-19, the decree released by the Presidency of the Republic reflects that “the specific measures provided for” in a previous decree, dated January 4, 2022, and which was in force until Tuesday 18, remain in force.

This decree 6563/2022 was also part, like the one of this day (6579/2022), of the “Plan for the Gradual Lifting of the General Preventive Isolation in the national territory due to the Coronavirus Pandemic (Covid-19)”, as mentioned in both texts.

Among the Executive’s arguments to proceed with this extension are the high numbers of daily infections registered in the last weeks in Paraguay.

“These numbers may have repercussions in the coming week on the need for hospitalization in a sustained manner and coinciding with projections that mark a peak in need for beds in the first week of February,” the text indicates.

Among these measures that will remain in force is the need to ventilate public spaces, use masks, and increase hand hygiene, or the 100% capacity for social events, provided that 80% of the attendees have completed the vaccination schedule.

At this moment, Paraguay is facing its third wave of covid-19 after the consecutive increase of cases in several departments (provinces) during the last weeks.

In fact, on December 27, health authorities in the South American country confirmed the first three cases of the omicron variant of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus.

Since the first positive case of covid-19 was recorded on March 7, 2020, Paraguay has already accumulated 501,189 cases, and 81 people are currently in intensive care, while 16,821 have died.

As regards vaccination, according to the website Our World in Data, as of January 14, the latest date published, only 42.7% of the population has completed the vaccination schedule. This percentage rises to 49.2% for those who have received at least one dose. In addition, 10.2% have received a booster dose.

With information from EFE