Uruguay has confirmed the presence of the Brazilian strain in seven departments of the country

Uruguay confirmed this Monday the presence of the Brazilian strain of covid-19 in seven departments (provinces) of the country, according to executive sources.

The Inter-Agency Working Group (IWG) on SARS-CoV-2 Surveillance was the one that detected the cases of P1, the Brazilian variant that is much more transmissible and which currently affects a large part of Brazil.

The presence of this strain would explain the gradual increase in coronavirus cases in Uruguay, which is facing a re-epidemic of the first wave, with several days above 1500 daily cases and a cumulative of 81,537 positives and 791 deaths since March 13, 2020.

In view of the gravity of the case, the President of Uruguay, Luis Lacalle Pou, convened for this Tuesday the Council of Ministers, during which the situation will be studied and the next measures analyzed, taking into account that the next one is Tourism Week (or Holy Week) and that many Uruguayans go to the beaches in the east or towards other points in the interior of the country.

Precisely on these days, the president will be vaccinated against covid-19, after having booked his appointment this weekend in the agenda developed by the Health portfolio, as well as nearly 200,000 other people between 18 and 70 years.

“All the measurements are on the table”, a government source admitted to the newspaper The country.

Likewise, the Executive is in “permanent” contact with the Honorary Scientific Advisory Group (GACH), from which it will receive advice and analyze its recommendations during the Council of Ministers on Tuesday.

The border with Brazil is one of the most worrying points for the Uruguayan authorities since the declaration of the health emergency on March 13, 2020 and, in fact, Rivera (north) is the worst of the country’s 19 departments, with 88.42 cases per 100,000 inhabitants (according to the Harvard index).

For its part, this source pointed out to the Uruguayan newspaper that GACH experts indicated that the vaccination plan will not be affected due to the characteristics of the vaccines available in the country.

On March 1, the MSP began its vaccination plan with doses of Pfizer and Coronavac arriving in the South American country, which 336,558 people have already been administered, 9.60% of the population, until 5:30 p.m. (8:30 p.m. GMT) on Monday.

With nearly 28,000 registered to be vaccinated with the first dose that day, Uruguay began its fourth week of coronavirus inoculation on Monday, a day after opening the agenda for almost -total target population.

According to data from the Ministry of Public Health (MSP), more than 500,000 people between the ages of 18 and 70 have signed up to be vaccinated during Tourism Week (or Holy Week), a band which in the South American country exceeds 2.3 million inhabitants.

However, only 170,000 were given a date for those days and the rest of the quotas had to be set for the following days.

Those who continue to get vaccinated are people aged 50 to 70 – who receive the first dose of CoronaVac -, in addition to those over 80, who live in nursing homes and healthcare workers, who are receiving the first dose of Pfizer this week.

Uruguay began its vaccination plan with the creation of priority groups to administer the Chinese laboratory vaccine (teachers, police, firefighters, military and workers at the Uruguayan Institute for Children and Adolescents under 60).

Faced with weaker than expected demand, The Ministry of Health has sent doses to the department of Rivera (north), bordering Brazil and the most affected by the pandemic, and to the prison population, and opened the diaries of people 50 to 70 years old. On Friday the 12th, meanwhile, inoculation by healthcare workers began and excessive doses of Pfizer were administered to homes for the elderly and those over 80 years of age.

With information from EFE and El País

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