Chile closes borders and increases restrictions due to Covid-19

Chile announced on Thursday the closure of its borders for 30 days from Monday and increased restrictions on mobility in a new attempt to reduce the increase in coronavirus infections, which has once again put the availability of hospital beds in check.

The restrictions include the prohibition of entry and exit from the South American nation of all Chileans and resident foreigners. Truckers carrying essential goods may be allowed to enter land crossings only if they present a recent negative test.

The Undersecretary of Crime Prevention, Katherine Martorell, who announced the measures, indicated that you can only enter or leave the country in extraordinary situations, duly accredited.

“It is a time to take difficult measures and we need everyone’s effort, so the country’s borders are closed and trips abroad are restricted for the entire month of April, both to Chilean citizens and foreigners residing in the country”, he pointed. Nor will foreigners from nations where there is a “community transmission” of the coronavirus will enter for a month.

For its part, the LATAM airline announced on its website that as of Monday it will suspend its international flights to and from Chile, and indicated that it will maintain “a reduced operation” while the border closes, “to allow the repatriation of residents or for foreigners who wish to leave Chile”.

The country has vaccinated 35% of its population against COVID-19 in less than two months. The authorities indicate that the admission of older adults to intensive care units has decreased, but the hospitalization of adults who have not yet been immunized due to their age has increased.

In addition, the government has reported that the occupancy of beds with a fan is 96%.

So far there are more than a million infected and more than 23,000 deaths in the country.

More than 84% of Chileans are in quarantine to stop infections, but the confinement has not translated into a considerable decrease in mobility because the government grants millions of temporary permits daily to go out to carry out legal and judicial procedures, buy essential goods and attending the doctor, among other things.

Police issued more than 4.8 million individual passes online between Monday and Wednesday alone. In addition, companies that claim to be essential have another five million collective authorizations for their workers.

However, from now on the authorities said they will limit the permits. For example, it was established that on weekends people will only be able to obtain one, and exclusively to acquire essential goods such as medicines, food, toiletries and personal hygiene.

In addition, home deliveries of non-essential goods were prohibited, and companies will not be able to request passes for employees who perform administrative, accounting, financial or advisory tasks.

The tightening of the restrictions is applied at a time when infections continue to increase, with more than 7,000 daily for five consecutive days last week, surpassing the maximum of 6,938 in June 2020. On Thursday, a new record of infected was reported : 7,830 in the last 24 hours.

Despite strong opposition from medical unions after a plateau of about 4,000 daily infections in January and February, the government issued special vacation permits to some four million people who circulated throughout the country and authorized the opening of non-commercial businesses. essentials, including gyms and casinos.

The Minister of Health, Enrique Paris, attributed the rise in infections to people who neglected to respect basic health standards during their vacations. “Maybe we were not clear enough in risk communication,” he said.