“There is a climate of war”: alert in Uruguay for the increase in coronavirus cases

After an escalation of coronavirus cases that shook the health system, Uruguay is in the middle of a serious health situation and the association that brings together intensive care doctors has warned that the much feared collapse of intensive care units could occur next Tuesday.

It’s lived “a climate of war», He alerted the newspaper The country the head of the Uruguayan Society of Intensive Medicine (SUMI), Julio Pontet.

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And he added: The collapse “is not only going to happen, but will advance“.

However, from the government of Luis Lacalle Pou, they deny an impending overflow and claim that intensive care beds are added to alleviate the situation, against a backdrop of increasing circulation of the Brazilian strain known as P.1 or Manaus.

What the scientific community is saying

The Uruguayan Society of Intensive Medicine had warned that the collapse would occur on April 4, but in a document released over the weekend, it warned that that picture had changed and that intensive care saturation would occur sooner than expected.

According to a new projection, the collapse would be reached on Tuesday, March 30 if the trend of the last days continues.

Julio Pontet, head of the Uruguayan Society of Intensive Medicine

The collapse will not only happen, but will be anticipated

There is currently an intensive care bed occupancy of 35.6% of coronavirus patients and a total occupancy of 69.3%. According to the entity, 35% of intensive care beds occupied by patients suffering from COVID-19 is the beginning of the “Red level” saturation of the health system.

Meanwhile, the Uruguayan Medical Union called for “a reduction in mobility in its maximum expression and the closure of all non-essential activities”. In a statement, he called on the government “for effective measures to reduce mobility and contacts ”and thus avoid the“ imminent health disaster“.

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This Sunday, according to official figures, 1,530 new cases of coronavirus and 14 deaths were recorded. The total number of deaths since the start of the pandemic has risen to 915.

What the government says

From the presidency of Luis Lacalle Pou the existence of a collapse is denied. The head of the administration of state health services, Leonardo Cipriani, said the health system in the public sector is not saturated and called on medical associations and scientific societies “to work together for Uruguay”.

“Today, we have no saturation of the health system. We ask scientific associations and societies to work together so that Uruguay faces this pandemic with this new P1 strain, ”the official wrote on Twitter. In addition, he said that intensive care beds are being added from the sector.

What is the opposition asking for

From the opposition, the left Wide front Joined doctors’ demand to tighten restrictions to avoid an imminent collapse of the health care system.

“We share with the academic and scientific sectors that the only solution to avoid the saturation and collapse of our health system is to reduce mobility as much as possible and the closure of all non-essential activities, both public and private, ”said a statement.

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In addition, he requested that a space of multi-stakeholder dialogue with the participation of the scientific community and civil society organizations.

According to the left-wing coalition, the objective of this space would be to “give a detailed account of the serious situation we are experiencing and to seek the best solutions to mitigate not only the health impact that this pandemic causes, but also the socio-economic consequences. in all its magnitude. “