– It was reported that there is a stock of supplies to carry out diagnostic tests for COVID-19, allowing the continuity of the testing strategy.
– Meanwhile, 25 communes in the country will go back to Transition as of Saturday, February 12.
During the balance on the situation of COVID-19 in the country, the Minister of Health, Enrique Paris, announced that on March 7 the vaccination of the fourth dose against SARS-Cov2 will begin for people from the age of 18, who they have received their booster dose until September 12, 2021. Along with this, he recalled that this process continues in the population aged 55 and over, according to the following schedule:
– From Monday, February 14, people aged 55 or over who have received their booster dose until August 22 will receive the fourth dose.
– From Monday, February 21, people aged 55 or over who have received their booster dose until August 29 will receive the fourth dose.
– From Monday, February 28, people aged 55 or over who have received their booster dose until September 5 will receive the fourth dose.
The authority also explained that this Thursday, February 10, a new shipment of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines of 308,000 doses arrived in the country, completing more than 20 million vaccines from this laboratory. “The breakdown of this shipment is 230,000 doses for people over 18 years of age and 78,000 special doses for children. With this shipment, Chile exceeds 51.8 million vaccines against COVID-19 entered during this pandemic,” Minister Paris reported.
Diagnostic tests for COVID-19
The global contagion situation has resulted in an increased demand for diagnostic tests. This was explained by the Undersecretary of Public Health, María Teresa Valenzuela, who explained that it is a situation that manifests itself worldwide. “In recent weeks, an average of three million cases have been diagnosed in the world, which means a high demand worldwide for tests, both antigen and PCR, causing difficulties in obtaining and supplying these in all countries. ”, he explained.
The authority added that in Chile, the analysis of samples has doubled in just one month. “On January 10, 66,950 diagnostic tests were carried out, between PCR and antigen, while today, February 10, we reported practically 130,000 tests in total, which is equivalent to 93.6%, figures for which we understand and thank everyone. the laboratories, their officials, the health personnel of the Primary Care, the Services, the Seremis, who have managed to respond to the needs thanks to their effort and commitment”.
Undersecretary Valenzuela clarified that, currently, there is a stock of supplies for conducting tests, which are being distributed to the different regions. In fact, this week there are 157,720 antigen tests and 2,176,891 PCR available, for the 16 regions of the country.
“But you have to be aware that the supply is limited and so is the processing capacity that laboratories have, which have equipment, personnel, who carry out complex processes, people who get sick, who have families, who dedicate everything the time they can process these exams, which, moreover, is parallel to the processing of other types of exams, since other pathologies must continue to be diagnosed in the country, ”said the Undersecretary.
The authority reported that at the end of December 2021, the Ministry of Health purchased over 2.3 million antigen tests, of which 49.5% have been received to date. “Providing evidence of this situation, we additionally made other purchases totaling two million 750 thousand antigen tests, whose delivery commitment by suppliers is from this weekend until the end of March.”
As for PCR tests, since December of last year more than three million have been purchased, which arrive periodically, depending on the requirement and the storage capacity of the Health Services, considering that they must be kept refrigerated. “I want to convey peace of mind, since we currently have stock of PCR, which allows us to continue with the testing strategy, prioritizing our symptomatic patients; and we remain in permanent contact with the Public Health Institute so that suppliers meet the quality requirements set by the regulatory authority and to speed up antigen deliveries,” said the undersecretary.
Epidemiological situation
Minister Enrique Paris pointed out that different signals and messages are observed worldwide on how government authorities and experts take measures due to the impact that the Omicron variant is having on this pandemic and added that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention of The United States (CDC) pointed out that it is still early to change the instructions on the use of masks, indicating that for now it is not the time to change these recommendations or relax the restrictions aimed at preventing COVID-19.
In this sense, the authority emphasized and clarified that “here in Chile we have communicated, and will continue to communicate, about the fundamentals of wearing the mask to prevent the possibility of contagion. We have done this throughout the pandemic. Nor have we given any sign of stopping demanding its use, quite the opposite. We are going to continue advising and controlling the use of the mask.
He also highlighted that sanitary measures have been strengthened, a large testing and vaccination network has been deployed throughout Chile. “We have increased testing from 70,000 or 80,000 daily tests to more than 130,000 daily tests and the supplies have been delivered to all the municipalities of Chile. We have also reinforced the concept that the Mobility Pass must be required and used, bringing the obtaining of this Pass closer to technological elements and it can even be obtained just by scanning the QR code of the identity card”, he explained.
On the other hand, Minister Paris said that the impact of the Omicron variant has caused a large number of new cases, causing hospital systems worldwide to suffer and receive a greater load of patients. Likewise, he stated that people who are hospitalized or admitted to Intensive Care Units have not received any vaccine against COVID-19 or that they do not have the complete schedule.
On this, he referred to the incidence and severity of cases according to their vaccination history, according to the latest epidemiological report from the Ministry of Health on this topic published on February 9, 2022. According to these data, the rate Mortality rate was 2.6 deaths per hundred thousand inhabitants in the group without protection or with incomplete protection, while in the group with complete protection, the rate is 2.0 per hundred thousand inhabitants; and in the case of those who have received the first two doses plus the booster dose, after 14 days, the mortality rate drops to 0.6 per hundred thousand inhabitants.
Step-by-Step Plan Changes
The Undersecretary (s) of Assistance Networks, Nicolás Duhalde, reported the changes to the Step-by-Step Plan, which will come into effect on Saturday, February 12 at 05:00.
The communes of Pelluhue, Talca, Pelarco and Colbún regress to Transition in the Maule region; in the Ñuble region, the communes of Bulnes and Yungay; in the Biobío region, the communes of Tucapel, Tomé, Concepción, Los Ángeles, Hualpén, Chiguayante, Talcahuano, Penco, Hualqui and San Pedro de la Paz; in the region of La Araucanía, the communes of Renaico, Angol, Cholchol, Lonquimay, Collipulli and Toltén; and in the Los Ríos region, the communes of Máfil, Panguipulli and Corral.
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