He Bolivian government reported this Monday that given the increase in cases of Acute Respiratory Infections (ARI), the country is in a “epidemic situation” nationwide, so he urged the population to come to get vaccinated against influenza.
The Minister of Health, Jeyson Auza, stated at a press conference that in the 15 weeks to 2023, 1,038,262 cases of ARI were registered, a figure that has “vastly surpassed” the respiratory infections registered in the same period in 2022, when there were 850,953 patients.
“Bolivia is in an epidemic situation due to ARI in the nine departments of the country“said the minister.
He added that in week 15 there was an increase of 20,966 cases in relation to the previous week, so there is a notable increase in cases.
“It is important to clarify that ARI can cause serious complications in children under 5 years of age.“, the minister pointed out.
However, he maintained that for now there is a “minor incidence” of ARI in children under 5 years old compared to last year, but asked parents to go to hospitals to have their children vaccinated against influenza to avoid the rise in cases.
Auza recommended that the population avoid very sudden temperature changes, have an adequate diet and reinforce frequent hand washing.
The minister announced that this Thursday he will meet with the directors of the departmental health services of the nine departments of Bolivia to analyze the situation of respiratory infections as well as vaccination data.
On the other hand, Auza maintained that there was also a slight increase of 6% in COVID-19 cases in this epidemiological week compared to the previous one and that this situation occurs after 14 weeks of decrease in cases.
Source: EFE
Source: Gestion
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