Venezuela has entered a “radical quarantine” to cool down …

Venezuela entered in a new phase of “radical quarantine” from this Monday and for a period of two weeks to deal with the second wave of the coronavirus. The measure runs until Sunday April 4, which means Easter activities will be restricted or suspended. During these 14 days, only essential sectors such as health or food will remain active. The new containment measures dictated by President Nicolás Maduro include activating so-called community brigades, stepping up the use of masks and reducing mobility and social gatherings.

Vaccination in Venezuela is progressing slowly for health workers, although in the last hours the Maduro government has received good news: in the first days of April, it will receive 60,000 vaccines developed in Cuba. The Brazilian variant of covid-19 has triggered the cases in the Caribbean country. which has so far 151,123 infections and 1,493 deaths.

“We are going to a radical and conscious holy week of quarantine”, explained Maduro at a press conference. The president cited the recommendations of the presidential commission charged with monitoring the coronavirus: “Minimize unnecessary mobility of the population, avoid concentrations of people in public spaces, reduce non-essential banking and commercial activities”.

Just days ago, the president announced an easing of measures and restrictions for the Easter holidays, an announcement that was canceled after the increase in cases and deaths. According to figures proposed by Maduro, Since September 2020, no more than a thousand cases have been recorded per day. However, as of Sunday 2,662 infections were reported in Caracas alone, while Miranda state accounted for 1,190..

Maduro stressed that this second wave is due to the presence and expansion of the Brazilian variant of covid-19, which has been present in the country since the first week of March. “Venezuela faces a new threat due to its vast border with Brazil,” he said, referring to the new variant., after reporting that cases of the disease have been detected in six states and the Capital District.

Although the Brazilian variant is a “fundamental factor” in the increase in confirmed cases, the “multiplier factor” is “the relaxation of preventive measures”., said the president, questioning the proliferation of parties in the country. He gave as an example a party in the swimming pool of a hotel in Caracas with more than 200 people which deserved the intervention of the police. “These are Venezuelans who have lost their respect and fear of the coronavirus. We have to put these celebrations on hold for a long time“he insisted.

“For six months we have maintained control of the pandemic, that has changed,” Maduro said. Currently, the country has a rate of 27 positive cases per 100,000 population and has “increased the occupancy rate of hospital beds”Maduro stressed, although he did not give more details on this situation which had already been denounced by the health union.

Although Venezuela is currently in “better conditions” to deal with the pandemic, the president said, the application of several measures is needed to try to reduce the transmission of the disease in the country. These guidelines include the new postponement of the resumption of classes in class, a comeback that the government has attempted several times without success.

“I had the illusion that the girls would return to the classrooms, but for now it is not possible. In Venezuela, we will maintain the education system with teleclasses, and during flexibilization, we will return to the counseling system with all biosafety protocols, ”Maduro said in this regard on his Twitter account.

In turn, the executive approved a plan to disinfect communities where coronavirus patients reside as well as public transport units., strengthen the investigation of suspected cases and include risk groups in vaccination against covid-19.

Venezuela began its vaccination campaign in February with Russia-developed Sputnik V with health workers and authorities as a priority, and in March it also started applying doses from Chinese pharmaceutical company Sinopharm.. With the opposition led by Juan Guaidó, the release of $ 30 million was agreed to access the first vaccines of the Covax mechanism of the World Health Organization (WHO).

President Maduro also reported that in the first week of April, 60,000 vaccines developed in Cuba for clinical trials will arrive in the country.: 30 thousand doses of Sovereign 2 and the remaining 30 thousand of Abdala. Both, said the president, are “the ALBA vaccines”, the group of countries created by the late Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez and which is made up of Venezuela, Cuba, Nicaragua and Bolivia among other countries in the region.

Abdala, the second of five vaccine candidates Cuba is investigating against the coronavirus, has moved on to the third and final phase of clinical trials in which its effectiveness will be tested. Of the 23 possible vaccines that are in the third and final phase of research worldwide, two are Cuban and have signs of becoming the first fully developed in Latin America.