The strange case of the Amazonian city of Iquitos where the coronavirus is fading

Iquitos has suffered one of the most tragic Covid-19 attacks on the planet, with hundreds of deaths and disheartening images of the hospital collapse and the drama of the lack of medical oxygen. Today, the virus seems to have all but disappeared without anyone really knowing why.

Located in the heart of the Peruvian Amazon jungle, this city, the largest in the world inaccessible by road, is a complex case study of the disease, which reached its extremes there, but also where it deflated. dramatically until today, it only includes a string of isolated cases and with virtually no clinical consequences, according to journalist Álvaro Mellizo, for the EFE agency.

Since the start of September, statistics on deaths, hospital admissions and disease progression have been blurred to almost unimportant numbers, with little certainty but suspicion of what may have happened. .

In the entire Loreto region, whose capital is Iquitos, only 4 cases of the disease were reported last week, and 19 the week before. None required hospitalization.

Health sources said that in Iquitos hospitals, there were only 3 patients admitted for Covid-19 this Friday and two suspected of having the disease.

There also appear to be few deaths, and although there is still excess mortality in the region compared to pre-pandemic records, in the city of Iquitos itself, where around 413,000 people live, the vast majority of the population of the region, normality seems to have returned.

In Loreto, the positivity rate for coronavirus tests is very high and hovers around 35%, although very little has been done for weeks, and almost all rapid tests, which detect antibodies, but not the validity of the virus. .

But more than numbers, there is the general perception in the city that something has happened with the disease.

“Yes, it is true that there are hardly any cases. When you talk to colleagues, they say that there are one or two cases per week, at most. During the crisis, there is had sessions with 300 patients, up to 500 per day, they are also milder, obviously that makes everything much more bearable, ”said Luis Runciman, dean of Loreto Medical College, according to the EFE agency.

Don’t let your guard down

Runciman said for the region “the great risk is not over yet”, and called for great caution and not to let our guard down.

“Sometimes we don’t know anything, we don’t know how many serotypes there may be of the disease. How many types of Covid-19 are there? We can say that we have had one, but another more aggressive one arrives, so we must continue to prepare for the worst, “he added. .

Despite the demand, the population seems not to have regained its senses and has considerably relaxed its behavior in the face of the pandemic.

“If there is immunity, because at the time it was so strong it affected us all.” Now the people are confident and know what to heal with, using our jungle plants and with that we are healed. There is peace and the people are confident. We are at zero, ”Germán Salas, a salesman in the popular Belén district of Iquitos, told EFE.

Mirna Padilla, a customer agreed noting that the townspeople have “become immune” to the virus, since they have already had “the wrong time”.

Likewise, he indicated that the region “will live with this Covid-19, which is not yet completely gone, as we live with other diseases such as dengue and malaria. We will therefore continue to protect ourselves and to take care of ourselves, ”he added.

However, he could not explain why now in the city it is very common to see people without masks and without meeting the minimum protection restrictions.