Chile announced on Monday the confinement of more than 72% of its 19 million inhabitants in an attempt to stop the contagion of the new coronavirus that reached the highest number during the entire pandemic the day before, 7,084 cases in one day, and that maintain the system health on the brink of collapse.
The government also prohibited travel with temporary permits on weekends.
The Undersecretary of Health, Paula Daza, reported that from next Thursday almost fifty communes will join those that are now in total confinement or only on weekends.
In addition, and for the first time since the arrival of the pandemic a year ago, temporary mobility permits will be suspended on Saturdays and Sundays. Last weekend 3.9 million authorizations were granted. Supermarkets and other essential businesses will only be able to sell with home delivery and permits will only be issued in cases of emergencies, such as attending funerals.
“We are experiencing a very complex situation in our country, we have seen a significant increase in the number of cases in some communes,” explained Daza when reporting the new restrictions.
The Minister of Health, Enrique Paris, said the day before referring to the critical state of the hospital system that “we have enough beds until Wednesday” and that an attempt is being made to increase the figure.
Critical use bed occupancy is approaching 95% despite increasing by 627 in the last month to total 3,398, of which 70% are occupied by COVID-19 patients. Only 177 were left on Monday. The South American country faced the first wave, in the middle of last year, with 2,200 intensive care beds.
The authorities explained that the problem in increasing critical beds is not the lack of respirators but of suitable health personnel.
The daily infected average 5,800 but the day before they reached 7,084, the highest number during the entire pandemic. It is estimated that between 2% and 2.5% of the newly infected will need a bed with a fan.
Chile has vaccinated 5.6 million people in less than two months, 30% of its population, and expects to inoculate 15 million by the end of June. But according to the authorities it is too early for immunizations to be reflected in health indicators, although positive effects have been seen in older adults.
The authorities say that, unlike the first wave when those hospitalized in critical units averaged 70 years, now they are around 50 years.
Chile has so far registered more than 938,000 infected and 22,359 deaths, according to the Johns Hopkins University Center for Science and Systems Engineering.
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