The Undersecretary of Assistance Networks, Alberto Dougnac, confirmed this Saturday that Chile added 7,588 new cases of Covid-19 in the country, the second highest figure since the start of the pandemic, after the 7,626 cases recorded on Friday. The authority detailed that 5,135 of the contagions are symptomatic, while 1,884 are asymptomatic detected by active search, totaling 969,913 cases accumulated since March last year.
The alert remains in place and not only contagions continue to rise. The country also reported a new record of 41,177 active cases, i.e. people who are currently with and may be infected with the latent virus.
With regard to the number of deaths, a total of 66 people were reported in the last 24 hours, which add to the total of 22,653 covid deaths. By contrast, there are already 905,435 people who have managed to recover from the disease.
Dougnac also indicated that 2,514 people remain hospitalized in ICU beds, of which 2,142 are mechanically ventilated. For its part, the total number of critical beds available was reduced to 147.
On the tests, in the last day there were 79,262 PCR exams, which already total 10,966,969. These yielded a positivity of 9.35% to covid-19, and 8% in the Metropolitan Region.
In the face of this situation, a call to extreme precautions and personal care in the fight against coronavirus, to protect the health and life of people, made the President of the Republic, Sebastián Piñera, who participated this Saturday in the delivery of the balance sheet of the situation of COVID-19 in the country. At the time, the Representative also stressed that the government has strongly promoted mass vaccination and that “we have already vaccinated more than 6 million people. The protective effects of this mass vaccination will increasingly manifest over time.”
“As a government, we are working tirelessly and doing everything humanly possible to control the pandemic and deliver as much help and relief as possible to families in need. We have significantly increased the number of critical beds, using as many options as possible, so that we can continue to care for patients,” the authority added. Likewise, the representative appreciated the commitment and generosity “of all those who have given their best to protect others, even people they did not even know. When the history of this pandemic is written, we will be able to fully recognize the quality of the soul of the Chilean people and the invaluable contribution of so many anonymous heroes.”
Regarding the situation of the pandemic, the Minister of Health, Enrique Paris, highlighted the Active Case Search strategy, as “24% of new cases detected at the national level have been carried out under this modality; and in the Metropolitan Region, Active Case Search brings 21% of all new cases.”
In addition, the authority rated the publication of the COVID Data Transparency Index, which ranks Chile fourth globally as one of the countries with the best transparency in the management of pandemic information. “This makes the Ministry of Health and all officials working on the communication of pandemic management data proud,” he said.
Finally, the Minister of Health clarified the figures concerning the place of death of persons by COVID-19, in the cumulative 2020-2021. In this regard, the authority indicated that 77% of the pastures have occurred in hospitals or clinics, and 20% at homes or in Long Stay Centers. For its part, in March of this year, 74% of deaths have been recorded in hospitals or clinics, and 23% in homes.
For his part, the undersecretary of Healthcare Networks, Alberto Dougnac, highlighted the effort in relation to the increase of critical beds during the pandemic. In this regard, he indicated that prior to the pandemic in Chile there were 1,200 critical beds and today the figure of 3,600 is reached, “three times more than we had before. This doubles the international standard of critical beds.” “The effort we’ve been making in this time to meet people’s health needs has been enormous,” he said.
Considering that more than 16 million people have been quarantined since this weekend, Undersecretary of Public Health Paula Daza explained that this is one of the toughest and most difficult measures. However, he emphasized that it is necessaryreduced mobility, as the decline in contagions is linked to decreased interaction of people.
In this context, Undersecretary Daza noted that more than 3.7 million people have been audited over the past 6 days throughout Chile, and that checkpoints have increased by more than 14,000. Alongside the above, starting this week, the auditers who will be present in more than 650 points at the national level will be increased to 2,400, along with the Armed Forces, Carabinieri and the Investigation Police. “We are making a great effort to control and ensure that health regulations are met, particularly during this weekend where individual permits are not allowed. The commitment of citizens is essential. We hope that people will respect health measures for the common good and that it is not for a health summary or a fine,” he stressed.
