Uruguay does not take “more measures” against covid despite its “sad reality”

The president of Uruguay, Luis Lacalle Pou, assured this Monday that his executive will not take “more measures” to stop the advance of the covid-19 despite the “sad reality” the country faces with the increase in deaths in recent weeks.

Despite the fact that in April there was an exponential increase in deaths, the president stressed that this situation “is reversed with vaccination, with personal care and, of course, with the rapid arrival of hospitalization and intensive treatments ”.

“Obviously, we all know that it depends a lot on the particular behaviors of each of us to reduce mobility. Action is being taken,” he said.

Lacalle Pou made these statements after receiving the second dose of the Chinese vaccine Coronavac at Maciel hospital in Montevideo, located in the old town (old town) of the capital Uruguayan.

Likewise, he reiterates that he does not agree with more restrictive measures, such as a mandatory quarantine or a night curfew.

The president also said that the country expects the arrival of 1.5 million more vaccines from the Chinese laboratory. Sinovac in the first days of May.

“We are waiting until the first days of May for this new shipment to continue with the people who are scheduled and who need the first dose,” he said.

He also pointed out that he will hold meetings with education-related authorities this week to resolve the situation of the study centers, which are currently offering their courses virtually and which they plan to come back face-to-face on. May 3.

Lacalle Pou, 47, had received the first dose of the vaccine against covid-19 on March 29 in the same center.

That day he was received by dozens of people who gathered at the entrance to greet him and, as a result, he had contact with a positive, for which he had to undergo a PCR test, which eventually gave a negative result.

According to the web monitor developed by the Ministry of Health, at 11:38 a.m. (2:38 p.m. GMT), 1,130,016 people received the first dose of the vaccine from Chinese (Sinovac), American (Pfizer) or Anglo-Swedish (AstraZeneca) laboratories. ) and 490,982 were also administered the second, so that more than 46% of the population receives at least part of the vaccination.

Since March 13, 2020, when the health emergency was declared in Uruguay due to the detection of the first positives, the South American country has accumulated 184,865 cases, of which 28,050 are active, and 2,326 deaths.