:quality(75)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/elcomercio/OXULOPXFD5HGFG7JLYU5WNE764.jpg "Colombia recommends returning to the mask in closed places due to the rebound of the coronavirus")
The Ministry of Health of Colombia recommended this Tuesday that the mask be used indoors “in view of the increase in cases of coronavirus covid-19″ for a subvariant of omicron, after its use ceased to be mandatory on May 1.
“The Ministry of Health issues the strong recommendation for the intelligent use of face masks in closed placespoorly ventilated, with a crowd of people or when we visit populations at risk, “said the Vice Minister of Public Health and Provision of Services, Germán Escobar.
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“This because of increase that we have witnessed in covid cases in the last two to three weeksbut also to the increase in cases of respiratory symptoms due to other viruses that are already presenting themselves”, the deputy minister said.
In the last week -cut to June 30- they reported 23,827 cases of covid-19while the previous week there were 19,697 infections.
“This increase is due not only to the presence of the omicron variantwhich is quite contagious, as we have said, fortunately not so severe, but because of the interactions that we have presented in recent days “added the deputy minister.
In line with the increase in cases, “In the last two weeks there has been a discreet increase in deaths”according to Escobar, since in the week of June 17 to 23 the Ministry of Health reported 52 deaths, while last week there were 100.
The official assured that “Fortunately, the ómicron variant is a variant with less severity than others”but also called for vaccination.
Vaccination coverage with at least one dose is in 83% of the population, while 71% have two doses and 13 million people with a booster of three or four.
The Ministry recalled that, despite the fact that the health emergency was lifted on June 30, it continues to monitor the situation “minute by minute” and that it hopes that the recommendation to use face masks – which will not yet be mandatory – will be enough, although other measures will be taken “if necessary”.
Altogether, in Colombia there have been 6.1 million cases, of which 25,198 are still active, and 140,070 people have died from the disease, according to the June 30 bulletin from the Ministry of Health.
Source: Elcomercio
I, Ronald Payne, am a journalist and author who dedicated his life to telling the stories that need to be said. I have over 7 years of experience as a reporter and editor, covering everything from politics to business to crime.
