Home » World » the rate of new contaminations has largely exceeded the Belgian “peak”

the rate of new contaminations has largely exceeded the Belgian “peak”

While in Europe, the epidemic is in sharp decline, even in some countries in the process of disappearing, Latin America continues to suffer from the coronavirus epidemic. Brazil, the new epicenter of the Covid-19 pandemic, now has 32,548 dead and nothing seems to be able to stop the progression of the new coronavirus in this country. The figures, which the scientific community considers grossly undervalued, place the Latin American giant in fourth place in the world for the dead, behind the United States – which remains by far the country hardest hit with 107,000 dead – the Kingdom -United Kingdom (39,728) and Italy (33,530).

Brazil, whose president Jair Bolsonaro regularly calls for the lifting of restrictions to preserve the economy and jobs, accounts for more than half of the cases of contamination and deaths of Covid-19 in Latin America.

But Chile is also hit hard by the epidemic. The authorities have decided to extend the confinement in Santiago for a fourth week.

When we look at the numbers, we realize that not only is the virus still growing in the country, but also that in terms of cases per capita, Chile has already surpassed (by far!) the peaks of new contaminations per day, in China, Italy, Spain, or even that in Belgium.

In recent days, Chile has in fact recorded up to more than 5,000 cases per day, which for this country of 18 million inhabitants represents the staggering rate of 286 new daily cases per million inhabitants.

To compare, the biggest peak of contaminations in Belgium was recorded on April 15, with 2454 new contaminations, or 211 cases per million inhabitants. No other country had reached such a peak before the epidemic had escalated since late May in Brazil, Peru and Chile. Most worryingly, there is no indication that the peak has already been reached in these countries….

Saturated hospitals

In Chile, hospitals in the Santiago region are now saturated with coronavirus patients. With more than 110,000 confirmed cases, and soon 1,300 deaths from covid19, mainly in the capital region, Chile must now sort out the patients who will be admitted to the hospital in respiratory distress, in particular in Santiago. Because there the intensive care and intensive care beds are all occupied.

Justine Fontaine is RTBF correspondent on the spot and notes that barely a month ago, the authorities were advocating a return to work and a new normal, to revive the economy. “Rback in class, reopening of shopping centers, and even, eventually cafes and bars… This was what the government of billionaire Sebastian Pinera planned in late April and early May. But none of this ultimately happened: the children and students did not return to school, and the few shopping centers that reopened had to immediately close again. The number of cases has steadily increased, especially in the capital region. To the point that in mid-May, the government decreed for the first time the confinement of all of greater Santiago, which includes almost 40% of the country’s population. But the measure arrived late, according to many experts, and did not have the expected effect: three weeks later, the number of new cases continues to increase, and in recent days more than 200 people have died in the capital emergency services, either because they arrived in too serious a condition, or because they could not be treated in time, or benefit from a respirator“.

Leave a Comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.