The new cases of Covid-19 soared this Saturday in Chile and they exceeded the barrier of 4,000 infections, with 4,380 new infections detected in 24 hours, the highest figure since last June 27.
In the last week, new cases nationwide increased by 78% and only 3 of the 16 regions of the country decreased new infections, health authorities reported this Saturday.
“Compared to June 27, 2021, active cases show a very significant variation. At that time we reported 29,118 and today we have 17,132 people. That is, almost 12,000 fewer active cases compared to that date ”, explained the Chilean Minister of Health, Enrique Paris.
The total balance since the beginning of the pandemic thus remained at 1.8 million infections and 39,251 deaths, after confirming 19 new deaths in the last 24 hours.
The pandemic, which had its most serious peak between last March and June and forced 90% of the population to be confined once again, had been under control for several months, but the Christmas holidays and the arrival of the omicron variant have somewhat complicated the situation.
The national rate of positivity -number of positives by tests carried out- also climbed to 5.3%, the highest in six months.
Despite the increase in cases, hospital pressure remains low, close to 65%, with fewer than 500 patients admitted to intensive care and more than 250 critical beds still available.
To try to stop the advance of the South African variant, Chile announced on Thursday that it will begin to apply the fourth dose of the vaccine against Covid-19 next Monday to immunosuppressed people and from February 7 to those over 55 who have six months after his previous injection.
Chile has carried out one of the most successful inoculation campaigns in the world, with more than 92% of the population (19 million inhabitants) with a complete two-dose or single-dose vaccination scheme and with more than 11.3 million doses. applied reinforcement.
The most widely used vaccine is CoronaVac, from the Chinese laboratory Sinovac, although Pfizer / BioNtech, AstraZeneca and Cansino are also administered to a lesser extent.
However, there are still 1.6 million people who have not taken the third dose and who suffer mobility restrictions since last January 1, among which the prohibition to access the interior of bars and restaurants stands out.
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