Chile reaches the highest number of active coronavirus cases in three months

The health authorities of Chile reported this Friday the detection of 2,379 new infections of coronavirus covid-19, reaching a total of 11,113 people in the active stage of the disease, a figure that had not been reached since mid-July.

Chile, which was for months with the pandemic controlled, is going through a rebound in infections that in the last two weeks had an increase of 85%, according to the Ministry of Health (Minsal).

To try to stop the contagions, the authorities reduced the capacity in the Metropolitan Region, a territory that concentrates the highest amount of hikes and that is home to the capital, where more than 7 million people live.

Along the same lines, from the Ministry of Health they have emphasized that the pandemic “has not ended” and care measures must be maintained so as not to fall back to the contagion levels registered in the middle of the year in the middle of the second wave.

“In the last month and a half we have observed a sustained increase in the number of patients infected by coronavirus, as a result of the decrease in restrictions, increased mobility and mainly because basic health measures are not being followed”, the head of the portfolio, Enrique Paris, pointed out the day before.

Nationwide positivity also increased to 3.2%, the highest rate in the past three months.

To date, there are 450 people hospitalized in intensive care units, and 10 deaths have been reported as a result of SARS-CoV-2, reaching a total of 37,729 deaths since the beginning of the health emergency.

Chile has deployed one of the most successful vaccination strategies in the world, with 89.8% of the target population (15.2 of the 19 million inhabitants) using two doses, mostly with the Chinese Sinovac vaccine, but also Pfizer, AstraZeneca and CanSino.

In parallel, 5 million booster doses have been administered and 79% of minors between 6 and 17 years old already have their first dose of the vaccine.

The borders, which were closed to travelers for six months, were opened on October 1, although only for vaccinated tourists.

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