Paraguay surpasses 15,000 deaths amid declining trend of cases (August 1)

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Paraguay surpassed on Sunday the 15,000 deaths due to the coronavirus since the beginning of the pandemic when the South American country of more than seven million inhabitants has been registering for weeks a marked decrease in cases after the peaks between the end of May and the beginning of June.

Today’s report from the Ministry of Health reported 61 deaths and 310 contagions, which puts the number of deaths at 15,042 and the number of positive cases at 452,698 since the first case was detected in March 2020.

Read also: Check out our coverage on Paraguay

The cumulative number of recovered cases is 421,051, according to the source.

This week’s decreasing trend was already remarked by the director of Health Surveillance, Guillermo Sequera, who acknowledged that the data instill optimism after the past figures, with daily averages of a hundred deaths and up to two thousand positives.

However, the health ministry urged to take the data with moderation because there are districts with high circulation, together with the addition of the delta variant, which on Friday was confirmed of community transmission, with the detection of six cases considered autochthonous.

The Ministry faces the pandemic with a vaccination campaign that is around two million people, mostly with one dose, and to reach four million.

For this Monday, vaccination with the second Pfizer schedule has been announced within a campaign that is being developed according to the available biologicals. That has been increased by donations from other countries.

The United States, among them, donated two million from Pfizer. At the same time, the shipments from the Covax platform, the first option of the Paraguayan Government, which has received a minimum part of the four million acquired, are still delayed.

The pending batches from the Russian Investment Fund, which sent 400,000 doses of the one million acquired, mostly with the first component, have still not arrived.

In this sense, the Minister of Health, Julio Borba, informed that this week he obtained the commitment of the Russian Fund to send this August some 40,000 Sputnik V with the second component.

Borba also announced on Saturday that the Chinese pharmaceutical company Sinopharm, through its subsidiary in the United Arab Emirates (G42), rescinded the contract with the Government, which contemplated the purchase of one million doses.

In a subsequent communiqué, the Ministry pointed out that the decision was unilateral and if explanations were provided to the Government.

In statements to the media, Borba avoided commenting on whether the decision was related to the non-existence of relations with China and referred the matter to the Foreign Ministry.

Paraguay and China do not maintain diplomatic relations because of the South American country’s alliance with Taiwan, which Beijing considers a rebel province.