This is how the week of April 5 begins in some of the countries most affected by the pandemic in the region.
Chile
Chile, with more than 96% of critical beds occupied 1:15As of this Monday, Chile will close the borders throughout the month, both for Chileans and foreigners residing in the country, reported the Undersecretary for Crime Prevention, Katy Martorell. A special permit must be requested in the event of an extraordinary situation.
The nationwide curfew will begin at 9 at night.
Despite a successful vaccination campaign and increased restrictions, the number of COVID-19 infections has continued to increase in the country, which on Thursday exceeded one million cases.
SIGHT: How does Santiago de Chile experience the new restrictions due to covid-19?
Argentina
On Sunday, the Argentine Presidential Medical Unit reported that the president, Alberto Fernández, who announced that he tested positive for covid-19 on Friday, is “stable, asymptomatic, with parameters within normal ranges.”
I wanted to tell you that at the end of today, after presenting a fever record of 37.3 and a slight headache, I performed an antigen test, which was positive.
– Alberto Fernández (@alferdez) April 3, 2021
The president will continue in mandatory isolation and under medical supervision, authorities said.
Colombia
From this Monday, April 5 to April 19, Colombia will implement new measures to reduce the number of coronavirus infections, according to the president, Iván Duque.
Duque said that cities such as Cali, Medellín, Santa Marta and Barranquilla are under observation for the increase in both cases and deaths and in the occupation of intensive care units. And that cities such as Bogotá, Manizales, Armenia, Tunja, Barranquilla, Montería, Leticia and Pereira are under observation due to the increase in the curve of cases and deaths.
😷#SiNosCuidamosAmovemos | The epidemiological situation in the country has increased in recent weeks and there is a risk of a new national rise. For this reason, we present a series of recommendations in order to prevent new infections of covid-19. pic.twitter.com/bbCm7Ux1mw
– Presidency Colombia 🇨🇴 (@infopresidencia) April 4, 2021
Those cities that have an ICU occupancy greater than 85% will have a peak and ID and curfew between 6 pm and 5 am.
Mexico
Easter with active tourism in Mexico 3:13A wave of tourists arrived on the beaches of Mexico for the Easter holidays, which represents a challenge for health control in the country, which ranks third in countries with the most deaths from coronavirus in the world, after the United States and Brazil, with more than 204,000 deaths.
Citizen Free Press en Español’s Belén Zapata reported how this weekend was lived on Mexican beaches.
LEE: Mexico reveals that the death toll from covid-19 is almost 60% higher than what was officially reported
Brazil
With more than 330,000 deaths from COVID-19 and new cases steadily increasing, medical workers have described the critical situation in the country’s overwhelmed hospitals as “scenes of war.”
Read more testimonials from medical workers in this article by Citizen Free Press’s Matt Rivers and Marcia Reverdosa.
LEE: Political turbulence in Brazil overshadows the covid-19 crisis
Bolivia
Meanwhile, Bolivia closed borders with Brazil on Friday to contain the spread of covid-19 for 7 days, as announced by the president of Bolivia, Luis Arce.
The authorities explained their concern about the spread of the Brazilian variant due to geographical proximity.
Cuba
Cuba includes thousands in COVID vaccine tests 3:43Cuba reported a record number of new COVID-19 cases on Sunday, with 1,162, and has registered more than 1,000 daily cases in the last week.
Currently, Cuba is developing five candidate vaccines against covid-19 and has vaccinated health workers with the Sovereign-02 vaccine, manufactured in-house.
SIGHT: The Cuban vaccine in Argentina is a possibility, says Health official
With information from Cristopher Ulloa, Florencia Trucco, Ana Cucalón, Matt Rivers, Maria Reverdosa, Belén Zapata and Patrick Oppmann.