Chile registers more than 6,500 new cases of coronavirus, but critical patients do not increase

Chile registered this Sunday 2,980 infected from coronavirus in intensive care units, a figure that has remained below 3,000 for ten days and has not increased despite the rebound in infections registered in the last week.

With the arrival of May, the country seemed to emerge from a second wave that put the hospital system on the ropes and forced to confine 90% of the population. The number of daily cases stabilized and hospitals began to decongest.

The authorities began a process of gradual opening, delaying the curfew – which now applies between 10:00 p.m. and 5:00 a.m. – and lifted quarantines in dozens of neighborhoods in the country that were able to open bars, restaurants and non-essential commerce during the week after a month of confinement.

However, despite the progress of the vaccination process, one of the fastest in the world, in recent days the new infections have increased again, reaching over 6,500.

In the last 24 hours, 6,519 cases and 132 new deaths were added, which leave the total balance of the pandemic in more than 1.3 million infections and 28,518 total deaths.

Meanwhile, the admissions to intensive care units of the vaccinated groups have decreased and the risk of being hospitalized went from 2.3% to 0.5% among young people aged 30 to 39 years and from 17% to 3 3% in those over 70, according to figures from the Ministry of Health.

The immunization process in the country continues to be among the most successful in the world: two doses have been administered to 51% of the population and one dose to more than 63%, mostly of the vaccine from the Chinese laboratory Sinovac, and to a lesser extent measure from Pfizer and AstraZeneca.

Regarding the English vaccine, the authorities announced this Saturday that the administration time between the two doses in men under 45 years will be shortened to only 28 days, instead of 12 weeks, the usual time.

In the last 24 hours, the national rate of positivity – number of infections per 100 PCR tests – was 9% after more than 65,000 tests were carried out, while in the Metropolitan Region, which houses the capital, it was 12%.