THE Chile broke the 24-hour record today for the new cases of Covid-19, a development that has brought the country’s hospitals to the brink of collapse, although the mass vaccination program has begun.
The number of cases increased after the end of the summer holidays (for the southern hemisphere) and today reached 7,084, a record number. The previous one was recorded in June 2020 and was 6,938 in one day.
Due to the rapid increase in patients, there are only 198 beds available in intensive care units. Santiago, the capital and economic “locomotive” of Chile, is in a strict lockdown this weekend.
Chile, a relatively small but rich Andean country, is one of the leaders in vaccinations: it ranks third, behind Israel and the United Arab Emirates, in terms of doses given to the population, according to a Reuters. It was the first country in South America to start vaccinating its people after receiving a batch of the Pfizer vaccine on December 24.
Authorities, however, point out that infections during the summer holidays, the spread of more infectious variants of the new coronavirus and the relaxation of hygiene measures, in the midst of a successful vaccination program, caused a more severe second wave of the pandemic.
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