BRASILIA, April 6 (NNN-Xinhua) — Brazil reported 28,645 new COVID-19 infections and 1,319 deaths in the past 24 hours, taking the nationwide tally to 13,013,601 and the national death toll to 332,752, the Health Ministry said on Monday.
The South American country is one of the global epicenters of the COVID-19 pandemic, suffering the world’s second-worst outbreak in terms of both deaths and infections, only after the United States.
Last week, the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, the most prominent science and technology health institution in Latin America attached to the Brazilian Ministry of Health, warned that hospitals in most parts of the country were under severe strain from a spike in COVID-19 infections, with ICU bed occupancy exceeding 90 percent.
Brazil started its vaccination process on Jan. 17 and has so far inoculated 19,474,826 people with at least one dose, while 5,389,211 people have received both doses.
COLOMBIA registered 10,190 new COVID-19 cases over the past 24 hours, taking its nationwide tally to 2,456,409, the ministry of health and social protection said Monday.
The country also reported 199 more deaths, raising the national death toll to 64,293, said the ministry.
According to the ministry, a total of 2,408,085 citizens have been vaccinated in the South American country, and 402,200 of them have received the second jab.
President Ivan Duque announced new restrictive measures for several cities where COVID-19 cases are on the rise and the occupancy of intensive care units is over 70 percent.
CHILE’s President Sebastian Pinera said that the country’s health system is at its capacity limit due to COVID-19, amid a new wave of infections that resulted in more than 7,000 cases a day last week.
“In Chile we have been hit hard by this resurgence, by this new onslaught that has put our health system at its capacity limit,” Pinera told local press.
To face this “serious threat,” he said, the country has strengthened the public and private health system, doubled the number of critical beds available and established quarantines and other restrictions.
The Chilean hospital network is currently overwhelmed by the new wave of COVID-19 infections, and experts warn about health personnel fatigue and the near collapse of the critical health system.
For this reason, 97 percent of residents of the South American country are under quarantine and the whole nation is under curfew.
In addition, starting on Monday, non-resident foreigners are banned from entering the country, with the exception of those duly authorized by the Chilean consulate in the country of origin, under health criteria issued by health authorities. — NNN-XINHUA