SANTIAGO, Dec 22 (NNN-Xinhua) — Chile will extend an existing curfew by two hours each day starting Saturday to contain the increasing COVID-19 infections, said health authorities.
Chile will then be under a daily nationwide curfew from 10 p.m. to 5:00 a.m., the Ministry of Health said.
Santiago Metropolitan Region, the epicenter of the epidemic in the country, will apply restrictions such as limits on gatherings and travel bans.
Chilean Health Minister Enrique Paris said at a press conference that new infections have increased 19 percent across the country.
The health authorities were “very concerned” about the latest surge, particularly when the average age of new cases has now fallen to 39 years old, Paris told another conference earlier this week.
He urged young people to take responsible actions facing the festival season.
Chile reported 1,943 new COVID-19 cases and 43 new deaths in the past 24 hours, raising the total number of infections and relevant deaths to 587,488 and 16,197 as of Saturday, respectively.
Meanwhile, 673 patients were in the intensive care units, and 557,913 people have recovered so far, according to the ministry’s report. — NNN-XINHUA
