SANTIAGO, April 3 (NNN-Xinhua) — Chile’s Health Ministry reported on Friday over 8,000 daily COVID-19 infections for the first time, with 8,112 cases in 24 hours, bringing the total to 1,011,485, and another 93 deaths for a total of 23,421.
Currently, 16 million residents of the South American country are under quarantine due to the COVID-19 resurgence, according to official estimates.
In the last 14 days, infections have increased by 29 percent, with the highest increases in the central regions of Maule, Santiago Metropolitan and Valparaiso, as well as in northern Arica, according to data from the ministry.
Certain regions in the country “have reached their highest levels of (hospital) capacity of the entire pandemic this past week,” said a report released on Thursday.
The report pointed out that hospital bed occupancy remains at critical levels of 95 percent or more, despite the allocation of 3,800 new beds announced by health authorities.
Earlier this week, Chile decided to close its borders to non-resident foreigners and prohibit travel abroad for all of April, in addition to tightening existing restrictions throughout the country.
ECUADOR on Friday declared a 30-day state of emergency in eight provinces with growing outbreaks of the novel coronavirus disease.
The executive decree issued around midnight Thursday by President Lenin Moreno aims to reduce viral transmission in the provinces of Azuay, El Oro, Esmeraldas, Guayas, Loja, Manabi, Pichincha and Santo Domingo de los Tsachilas.
These regions registered COVID-19 positivity rates above 29 percent, along with an increase in mortality, in the first quarter of 2021.
The state of emergency imposes a curfew starting Friday and through April 9, from 8:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m. local time, and suspends the right to assemble to prevent gatherings, especially during this peak Easter holiday weekend.
Moreno’s government first decreed a state of emergency in March 2020, at the outset of the pandemic. The measure was extended several times until September, when the Constitutional Court ruled it could no longer be extended.
Ecuador’s Public Health Ministry on Friday reported 1,650 new cases of infection and 30 more deaths in the last 24 hours, bringing the total number of cases to 332,038 and the confirmed death toll to 12,033.
The actual pandemic death toll may be closer to 17,000 as another 4,877 deaths are considered to be COVID-19 related, but not verified, according to the ministry. — NNN-XINHUA