Ómicron: new cases drop in Chile, but positivity is the highest in 20 months

Chile registered this Saturday 33,769 new cases of COVID-19far from the almost 40,000 daily infections detected two weeks ago, although the positivity rate reached 28.4%, the highest since June 2020.

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“The variation of new confirmed cases, compared to the same day of the previous week, continues to show a decrease as reported in recent days,” said the Minister of Health, Enrique Paris.

Since its arrival in December, the contagious ómicron strain has raised those infected to figures never seen before and recently caused an escalation of the sick with serious illnesses and deaths.

Currently, there are almost a thousand patients in intensive care, which represents 45% of the total occupancy of critical beds.

In the last 24 hours, 129 deaths were also registered, which brings the total balance since the start of the pandemic to 41,196 deaths.

The positivity rate, which did not exceed 3% two months ago, is in figures similar to June 2020, when Chile experienced its first total confinement and the hospital network was on the verge of collapse.

Unlike then, today 93% of those over 18 years of age have the complete vaccination schedule and 12.8 of the 19 million inhabitants of the country have received the third dose.

The Government has also initiated the massive administration of fourth doses to those over 55 years of age, which will be followed by those over 18 years of age from March.

“The vaccine against covid-19 is safe, free and has demonstrated its effectiveness in preventing admission to the ICU and death,” said the minister.

At the moment, the authorities are not considering new confinements or the closure of borders, although the Government has reduced capacity in most regions.

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Source: Elcomercio

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