Coronavirus: New York Times map shows Argentina as one of the most complicated regions in the world

Argentina is going through worst health moment since the start of the coronavirus pandemic amid a shortage of vaccines and increasing cases and deaths. For this reason, his authorities have announced very strong restrictive measures that will take effect tomorrow, Saturday 22 May.

A map produced by the prestigious American newspaper The New York Times reflects the situation in the country. It is based on the average number of cases per 100,000 people recorded last week and colors countries according to the severity of when they are found.

Argentina, with 54 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, is painted burgundy – one of the most intense colors. It is only surpassed by Uruguay, which had 88 cases per 100,000 inhabitants in recent days and which appears painted in a dark, almost black tone.

India, one of the countries that worries the world because of the accelerating curve of infections it has recorded in recent weeks, has 21 cases per 100,000 population.

The infographic, accessible through this link and reproduced with a screenshot in this note, uses data provided by governments themselves and by Johns Hopkins University, which has become a benchmark for statistics on impact. of the pandemic.

The approach coincides with that carried out by Our World in Data, which also records that Argentina and Uruguay are the countries with the highest level of infections per million inhabitants.

Increase in cases

The Nation’s Health Ministry yesterday reported 435 new deaths and 35,884 infections. With these numbers, last week the average number of new cases increased by 35% and the average number of deaths per day increased by 16%. These figures imply that over the past seven days, the average number of new cases more than doubled that of deaths.

Last Friday, May 14, the average number of new cases (an average that occurs after the addition of infections over a period of seven days and their subsequent division) was 21.619 and that day had been the first time in two weeks that this number had exceeded the 20 thousand. Meanwhile, with yesterday’s figures, the average number of daily infections has risen to 29.277.

For experts, a 35% increase in the COVID-19 case registry will inevitably put more strain on the healthcare system in the weeks to come. Yesterday, the occupation of intensive care units (ICU) across the country was 72.60%, a record since the start of the pandemic, while in the metropolitan area of ​​Buenos Aires (AMBA) it was 76.40%.

What worries the government is that for two weeks, a new record of internees presenting severe symptoms of coronavirus has been recorded every day: Between May 7 and yesterday, the total number of beds occupied by COVID-19 patients increased from 5,268 to 5,951. This assessment of internees in ICU implies that 46.49% of the total number of intensive care beds in the country (12,801) are intended for virus cases that have appeared in China.

In contrast, the average of new daily deaths has also increased, which has grown steadily since May 14: Seven days ago that number was 426 and yesterday it hit 492, a 16% jump in one week.

Yesterday, the Nation’s Ministry of Health reported 35,488 new coronavirus infections and 435 deaths. Although this figure marks a decrease in the number of cases from the previous day, 3,808 fewer, it is the second day that the most infections have been reported since the start of the pandemic. Since March 2020, the cumulative total of infections has increased to 3,447,044 and deaths to 72,699.

A very slow vaccination campaign

According to the public immunization monitor, only 4.90% of the population received two doses of a formula against the coronavirus, that is, a complete vaccination schedule.

12,698,145 vaccines have arrived in the country. 10,758,782 were applied. The rest has already been distributed to the provinces and should be applied in the coming days. Meanwhile, the national government is working to speed up the landing of more vaccines.

There are versions – not yet confirmed – that this weekend, new flights will depart to Russia to search for doses of Sputnik V. At the same time, expectations are growing for an imminent arrival of nearly 4 million AstraZeneca vaccines. . Both vendors are at fault with the Argentine government.

The Russians had promised 20 million vaccines for the first two months of the year. In almost 6 months, they only shipped 6 million. AstraZeneca was the first laboratory to sign a contract with Argentina and so far it has not sent a single shipment.