Almost 15% of Uruguayans have already received the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine

More than 503,000 people in Uruguay have already received the first dose of the covid-19 vaccine, that is, about 15% of the country’s population has already been partially vaccinated with China Sinovac or with the American Pfizer.

According to the monitor developed by the Ministry of Public Health (MSP), at 1:30 p.m. (4:30 p.m. GMT) this Saturday, 503,156 people had received the first dose in the country.

For this Sunday they are scheduled 201,007 people will receive the first dose, against a backdrop of a rebound in cases in recent days, where the figure of 2,000 infections was exceeded in several days.

Uruguay, a country of about 3.5 million people bought 3.8 million doses of Sinovac and Pfizer, of which 1,900,000 are already in the country. In addition, he registered for the Covax platform, under the aegis of the World Health Organization (WHO), for which some 450,000 doses of AstraZeneca.

Subsequently, the Uruguayan government finalized the acquisition of 1.25 million additional doses from the Chinese laboratory, which is scheduled to arrive in May.

For the time being, 407,962 Chinese vaccines and 95,194 Pfizer were administered.

Tuesday, the president Luis Lacalle Pou urged the population to reduce mobility while recording a record of active cases of COVID-19 in the country.

The rapid spread of the coronavirus last month and the detection of the Brazilian P1 variant have generated an alert among doctors. Uruguay has a rate of 47 people infected per 100,000 people. A month ago, I was scratching at 18.

The fluid mobility of the population observed since November and the epidemiological strategies implemented at the wrong time have had an impact on the biggest wave recorded since the first cases detected in March of last year. Diagnostic labs have delays of more than a week and intensive care centers are busy. Experts warn of the risk of saturation of health services on the porous border with Brazil.

Since the first week of December, when 8,000 Uruguayans had had a coronavirus, the infection multiplied by ten. By then, the country has racked up 80 deaths within nine months of the first case. On Monday, the 800 deaths were exceeded while 85,000 people went through the disease. A month ago, 600 cases were reported. As of Monday, they were almost 3,000 and 18% positive.

This Tuesday in Washington, Carissa Etienne, director of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), declared that the infection rate “is alarming given the size of the country”. The spread is highest in localities bordering Brazil: Rivera reports more than 100 average cases last week per 100,000 inhabitants. The advance is also recorded in the capital, Montevideo, which will surround public spaces where police have reported crowds.

About thirty medical societies and guilds have expressed their views limit mobility for three to four weeks as the vaccination progresses, and they insisted that, if the contagions are not stopped, the health system could collapse. According to the Uruguayan Society of Critical Care Medicine, a quarter of ICC beds are occupied by covid patients. The total occupancy is 62.3%.

Since the start of the pandemic on March 13, 2020, Uruguay has accumulated 92,343 positives (17,129 people currently with the disease, of whom 248 are admitted to intensive care) and 875 deaths.

With information from EFE and AP

KEEP READING: