Chile sees Covid surge despite vaccination success

chili

Chile’s Health Minister Enrique Paris has been striking a gloomy note at his daily Covid news conferences in recent days. The number of daily cases reached a new record high on 9 April, going over 9,000 for the first time since the pandemic began and considerably higher than the previous peak of just under 7,000 cases in mid-June. ” It’s worrying,” he said last Friday. “We’re going through a critical moment of the pandemic… I urge you to take care of yourselves, of your loved ones, of your families.” Intensive care units are again overwhelmed, the country has for a second time closed its borders to everyone who is not a resident and most of its 18 million inhabitants are back in lockdown. “It feels like we’re going backwards,” says Santiago resident SofĂ­a Pinto. “We need to download special permits online to be allowed out just twice a week for essential things like food shopping or doctor’s visits.”(BBC)…[+]