Colombia faces severity of third peak of covid-19, now dangerous ‘plateau’

Colombia goes through the third wave of pandemic since the end of March and has continued until now, leading to significant consequences, for example, in the last 24 hours a new death record has been set, 577 deaths per day, and the occupancy rate of intensive care beds is critical with less than 10% availability nationwide.

The regions with the most deaths recorded in the last report are Bogotá, Antioquia, Cundinamarca, Santander and Valle del Cauca. In this direction, the country accumulates 95,192 deaths from the coronavirus and so far the total number of infections of the disease nationwide has risen to 3,724,705, while those cured of the disease total 3,457,117. Active cases are 160,886.

Experts stress that the peak was prolonged thanks to social protests that have been taking place for more than a month and a half, the slowness of the vaccination and the lack of effective measures to contain the contagion.

The accelerated increase in the number of infected and dead has led not only to talk of the third peak but also of a plateau, because there are peaks in the third peak of the pandemicThat is to say that contrary to what was thought to decrease at one point, in Colombia, weekly records are set which made the country the fourth country with the most cases of contagion in the world.

On March 21, the day the third wave began, there were 147 deaths. But everything continued to increase because on April 4, there were already more 200 daily deaths; on April 9, more than 300, and on April 14, the level of death by date of occurrence was over 400. The acceleration of daily deaths increased from 200 to 400 in just 10 days. And to reach the 500 daily victims it took only one more week (498 April 21), and from that moment the government started talking about a plateau, which was also constant since it exceeded the figures that had been presented in previous waves, in the first and second the maximum was 250 on average, or 50% of the numbers that are presented daily today.

According to Julián Fernández Niño, director of epidemiology and demography of the portfolio, in an interview with Colombian newspaper El Tiempo, high and sustained transmission over time in various regions, mainly in densely populated areas such as Bogotá, has led to a prolonged plateau in the death curve.

For now, the country’s doctors’ unions have assured that this situation could last for three weeks or a month and recommend the continuation of care since there are no beds or supplies to treat patients who develop severe symptoms of Covid. In addition, they asked the government not to open up the economy.

“In the midst of the collapse of the health system, economic reactivation is not timely, as we are in a significant increase in daily deaths and in the coming weeks, depending on the behavior of the virus, it will increaseThe unions explained through a public statement and added that “There are high rates of contagious deaths, a collapse of the hospital network, a shortage of oxygen and supplies, a human talent crisis and a risk to the sustainability of the healthcare system, so we don’t think it is. the right moment for this economic reopening. This cyclical public policy must be subjected to a new analysis of validity, precision, appropriateness and relevance in the face of the urgent health situation which threatens the lives of thousands of people ”.

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