Pudahuel, Maipú and Quilicura are listed as the communes where active cases of Covid-19 increased the most in relation to the previous report, according to the new Epidemiological Report of the Ministry of Health (Minsal) that reveals data on the evolution of the pandemic in the country.
The new report reports that, as of December 13, there are 653,007 cases of covid-19 in the country (with and without confirmation), while the deceased cases are 21,230. There are another 79,177 probable cases, without laboratory confirmation.
At the commune level, there are 39 active cases in Pudahuel, In Maipú 29 and Quilicura 21. It is followed by El Bosque (17), Peñalolén (14), Colina (12), Lo Barnechea (12), La Reina (11), Auñoa (10), Puente Alto (10) and Recoleta (10).
In contrast, Santiago (-20), Providencia (-19), La Cisterna (-12), San Joaquín (-11), Curacaví (-10), San Bernardo (-8), Central Station (-7) and Vitacura (-6) experienced the largest drop in active cases.
Meanwhile, Puente Alto, Maipú, Santiago and La Florida, Punta Arenas, San Bernardo, Peñalolén, Antofagasta, La Pintana and Pudahuel, are the ones with the most cases accumulated.
As far as active cases are concerned, they lead Punta Arenas, Valdivia, Concepción, Puerto Montt, Los Angeles, Chillán, Puente Alto, Coronel and Temuco.
This report further reveals that the highest cumulative incidence rates per 100,000 inhabitants, depending on cases
confirmed by laboratory, they are found in Magellan (9,564.8), Tarapacá (4,367.6) and Metropolitan Region (4,308.5).
Also in the Metropolitan Region is the largest number of confirmed cases, with 299,184, followed by Biobío (40,965), Valparaiso (33,192) and Maule (22,318).
“Drastic action must be taken”
The mayors of the communes where cases have increased the most point to the lack of information from the Minsal, and agree that the main concern is in the figures of the coming weeks.
“We at one point came to be congratulated by Minister Enrique Paris, and we got to phase 4 because we were doing things right. But overnight this began to crumble, because there is a formal quarantine, but not a real one, and what we had achieved has been reduced,” Pudahuel Mayor Johnny Carrasco admits to El Mostrador, alluding to phase 2 in force throughout the MRI.
The building also points out that “there is also not much information from the Ministry of Health, this is not a competition between communes, but communes like Lo Prado and Cerro Navia are lower than us, but they have less population, and Maipú is taller than us, but it has much more inhabitants than us. I don’t know how the bills are being taken out.”
According to the communal chief, Pudahuel has focused on traceability. “Within the communes of this area, we are the one that has carried out the most PCR tests. We have been 11,824, and now we are dedicated to investing more efforts in having greater traceability, we are doing 1200 PCRs a week,” he said.
In his view, the main concern lies in the figures for the coming weeks. “I see it under control, we have climbed, of course, but not to be alarmed unnecessarily. We are quite stable, but the concern of the team is that by January 14th to 15th we will have the consequences, for the simple reason of the New Year’s festivities where everyone is going to be hugging and no one will respect social estating.”
In Carrasco’s view, the situation would force more drastic action. “This is going to be a little harder in January. If we follow the numbers like this – I hope not – I think we’re all going to quarantine. Just as Phase 2 was done for everyone, a quarantine should be done for everyone. It’s hard, which I say, very unpopular especially for traders, but if we want to stop this, we really have to take drastic measures,” he concluded.
