41% of covid-19 cases in Uruguay have no connection, says report

Montevideo, Apr 2 .- 41% of covid-19 cases in Uruguay do not have a clear identification link, which shows the loss of tracking and community circulation of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus in the country South American, according to the latest report from the Ministry of Public Health (MSP).
According to the report, which analyzes the situation for the entire month of March, although 57% of the 102,461 accumulated cases of covid-19 in the country have a history of contact with other confirmed cases, of the remaining 16% do not have notion of exposure and for 25% the antecedent is under study.
As for the remaining 2%, these are infections that occurred during trips to an area of ​​active transmission.
In turn, the analysis of the cases shows that 96% required only outpatient management and 4% some type of hospital care, while 1% of the latter involved admissions to an Intensive Treatment Center (ICU).
On the other hand, the document details that 80% of confirmed cases are considered recovered, the lethality of the disease in the country is 9.93% and mortality is 26.99 per 100,000 inhabitants.
Regarding these latest data, the report points out that “severity and fatality are significantly higher among men”, while the probability of requiring hospital admission increases with age.
Uruguay surpassed 1,000 deaths from covid-19 this Thursday when 35 deaths were registered for the first time in a day, according to data from the National Emergency System (Sinae).
Of the 15,104 analyzes carried out in the last day, there were 1,728 positives, to which are added 913 corresponding to previous days and not previously reported, so that the total of new cases amounts to 2,641 and that of accumulated since the beginning of the pandemic at 108,188.
With the entire country in red according to the Harvard risk index, which establishes more than 25 cases per 100,000 inhabitants in the 19 departments (provinces), various medical and scientific societies last week asked the national government for “effective measures” to reduce mobility in the face of an “imminent health catastrophe”.
However, the Tourism Week (or Holy Week) has developed without movement restrictions among the 19 departments of the country, although some tourist sites, such as the Salto or Paysandú hot springs, in the west of the country, had previously announced their closure. , and the ‘free-shops’ (duty-free shops) were closed until April 12 by the Executive.
The president of Uruguay, Luis Lacalle Pou, said last Monday that he “does not believe in a police state” and reaffirmed that he will not confine the population despite the outbreak of the first wave of covid-19, which is leading to a situation close to the collapse to intensive care units.