Vaccination champion Chile records highest daily number of infections since March (May 31)

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Chile added 6,882 new cases of Covid-19 on Monday, May 31, the highest number of infections since March when the country was experiencing the scourge of a second wave of the pandemic that brought the health system to the limit of collapse.

“The variation of new cases continues to rise, today we have a 13% increase in infections compared to the last seven days,” warned the Minister of Health, Enrique Paris.

The total pandemic balance amounts to more than 1.3 million cases and 29,300 total deaths, after adding 132 deaths this Monday. In the last 24 hours, the national positivity rate – number of positive cases per 100 tests performed – was 8.7% and 12% in the Metropolitan region of capital Santiago.

For days, the country has been experiencing an upturn in the number of new cases, with figures similar to those of March and April, when the authorities quarantined more than 90% of the population, and there was more than 95% hospital bed occupancy.

There was also an increase in the number of people admitted to intensive care units on Monday: 3,142 critical patients are registered, one of the highest figures of the entire health crisis, which implies that there are only 150 free beds in units of this type in the whole country.

“Of those hospitalized in intensive care units, 63% are not vaccinated, and 86% have not completed their vaccination schedule,” Paris added.

Chile has not managed to contain the advance of the virus despite having deployed one of the most successful vaccination campaigns in the world: nearly 8 million people (52 % of its target population) have received two doses, and almost 70 % have obtained one dose.

Experts point to flaws in the traceability strategy and “exitism” on the part of the government in lifting restrictions early and implementing measures such as the “mobility pass”, which grants greater freedoms to vaccinated people.

This card, which came into force last week, allows people who have received doses of the vaccine to go out on the streets despite being in quarantine and allows them to travel between regions, something prohibited for months.

The country has maintained its external borders sealed until June 15, a curfew from 10 PM to 5 AM, and a state of emergency due to catastrophe, for more than a year.