South America on alert for damage caused by Amazon strain

The devastation caused by the Brazilian coronavirus mutation is spreading across South America, with 100 infected people waiting for an intensive care bed in Paraguay, increasing cases in Chile, Uruguay and Peru, and locks in place or about to start trying to contain the virus. .

Brazil

In Brazil itself, the virulence of the strain detected in Manaus feels strong: 64% of people infected in São Paulo, the largest city in the country and the region, have been infected with this variant, according to a report from the municipality and the local university.

City Health Secretary Edson Aparecido he said that in total, 78 percent of the population has the Amazonian and British variant.

“35% of those who go to the intensive care unit with these variants are dying, progressing in people between 20 and 54 years old and causing severity from the sixth day of contact with the virus,” he said. he indicated, the first day of the super holidays which closed the city until April 5, after Easter.

The city of São Paulo started the holidays on Friday but the state of the same name, where 46 million people live, extended the emergency phase until April 11 due to the collapse of hospitals.

All commercial activities, with the exception of gas stations and supermarkets, are prohibited and only businesses and restaurants are allowed to offer their services by delivery.

Agree with data from the Board of the Secretary of Health of Statesnails 6,800 people are lined up for intensive care beds across Brazil, 1,500 of them in the State of São PauloGlobo TV reported.

The collapse in health is evident and increases with increasing contagion figures that have already exceeded 100,000 per day, in the context of a pandemic which has already killed more than 300,000 people in the country.

Paraguay

This strain detected in the Amazon is also the main cause of the reappearance of cases in Paraguay, where at least 92 people are waiting for a place in intensive therapy before 100% occupancy of hospital beds, the authorities reported.

The Director of Networks and Services of the Ministry of Health, Leticia Pintos, announced that more intensive care beds would be activated in the coming days, but warned that another problem is that health workers “are almost exhausted” by the pandemic.

The government of Paraguay will impose a strict quarantine from this Saturday to Sunday April 4, period when people will only be able to leave their homes to buy food, medicine and cleaning supplies.

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Another country bordering Brazil that could not contain the entry of the strain is Peru, which more than a million and a half cases, and has reached 50,831 deaths since the outbreak of the pandemic 12 months ago, informed the Ministry of Health.

Health authorities have confirmed that the Brazilian variant of the coronavirus is the cause of 40% of recorded cases the last months of Lima, where almost half of the total infections recorded nationally are concentrated.

Peru had a record for daily cases on Wednesday, with 11,260, the highest number in the entire pandemic.

Chile

Today it was Chile’s turn to hits historic high with 7,626 new positives, a figure which greatly exceeded the previous record of 7,084 cases recorded last Saturday, March 20.

Active cases, that is, those that may still infect others, also had the highest number on record, with 41,151 people capable of transmitting the virus.

Bolivia

To avoid a similar image, lthe departments of the Bolivian Amazon of Pando and Beni, bordering Brazil, today declared an emergency and a red alert and ordered the application of new measures due to the sharp increase in infections attributable to the Brazilian variant.

Pando governor Paola Terrazas said they are “at high risk” and the department has declared itself “on red alert because it does not want the number of infections to continue to rise” and has announced the partial closure, for a few hours of the day., the border with Brazil and other measures, published the local newspaper El Deber.

The municipalities of Guayaramern and Riberalta, in the department of Beni and also neighboring Brazil, for their part, have announced tighter border controls, reported local newspaper La Razn.

The Ministry of Health said he had not yet confirmed the presence in Bolivia of the Brazilian strain, but announced the dispatch of drugs, hospital supplies and medical supplies to these areas, strengthen the response to the pandemic.

Also Thousands of Sinopharm and AstraZeneca vaccines have been sent to advance the general vaccination campaign in these regions scheduled from next week, Health Minister Jeyson Auza said, according to Sputnik news agency.

Uruguay

The presence of the Manaus strain is already notorious in Uruguay, which is going through its worst moment of the pandemic, with a record number of infections and deaths.

Given this situation, The authorities decided this week to suspend face-to-face classes until Easter included, to close state offices and to cancel public performances. until April 12, among other measures to curb infections.