Chile already has almost 97% of its intensive care beds occupied

He explained that to date, there are 3,219 people hospitalized in intensive care, of which 2,724 are connected to mechanical ventilation.

In addition, health officials have reported that there have been 8,150 new cases and 213 deaths from the coronavirus in the past 24 hours, leaving the neighboring country with 1,403,101 infected and 29,598 deaths since the start of the health crisis in March of last year.

They also reported that the national positivity rate was 9.69%, while the metropolitan area registered 11%, confirming the capital as the main source of infection in the country.

In the midst of this resumption of cases at the national level, the health authorities have decreed the reduction to the total containment of 16 municipalities (neighborhoods), including five from Santiago, which include populated areas such as Maipú, Independencia, Santiago Centro, Macul and Cerrillos.

These Chilean areas will enter quarantine again from next Monday at 5 a.m., explained the Under Secretary for Public Health, Paula Daza.

In the daily report, which was drawn up today by the Palacio de La Moneda, the Minister of Health, Enrique Paris, reiterated its support for the controversial “mobility pass” decreed by the government to give greater freedom to those who are fully vaccinated and immunized.

However, he announced that “people from quarantined municipalities will only be able to use their mobility card within their own municipality, they will not be able to move to other municipalities”.

He warned that “failure to comply with this ordinance will result in sanctions” and that holders of this pass will not be able “to move to other regions as long as their commune is in quarantine”.

The words of Paris come after the president Sebastien Piñera said in an interview that he is ready “to evaluate everything according to the information and the evolution of the pandemic”, including the “mobility pass”.

This mobility card aroused strong criticism from the Faculty of Medicine, but the president defends it as a way for many people to get out of confinement. However, he clarified that “that does not allow them to go to the restaurant, nor to go to work” because the rules do not change since “the (official plan) Step by step is maintained”.

Chile is the sixth country in Latin America with the most confirmed cases of coronavirus, according to data from the World Health Organization (WHO).