Chile, a duality: excellent vaccination rate, worst moment of the pandemic
Some 13 million people will be quarantined again, after the government of President Sebastián Piñera decided to confine more than 70% of the population, as the number of people infected by the COVID-19 virus has increased by 36% in the last two weeks, according to the Ministry of Health. Since the beginning of this year, Chile has vaccinated 5.6 million people, which represents 30% of its total population, and estimates that 15 million people will be vaccinated by June. Experts and the Ministry of Health assure that those immunised are not yet reflected in the health indicators, although some positive effects have been shown with the elderly.
The Oxford University's Our World Data programme, during the week of 9 March, established that Chile became the fastest country to vaccinate against COVID-19 worldwide, with an average of 1.08 daily doses per 100 inhabitants inoculated during the last seven days. "In the world ranking, today Chile is in first place among the countries that vaccinate the fastest, considering the average of the last week," said Health Minister Enrique Paris at a press conference.
One of the consequences of the rise in the number of infections is illegal parties. Despite the situation in the country, clandestine parties have multiplied. The police reported that they have intervened in more illegal parties so far in 2021 than in the whole of 2020. "The figures don't lie, but we should be ashamed of ourselves as a country. The clandestine parties so far this year have already surpassed those that our carabineros detected in the entire course of the pandemic in 2020," said Inspector General Esteban Díaz Urbina.
The government decided to cancel travel with temporary permits on Saturdays and Sundays. The Undersecretary of Health, Paula Daza, declared that fifty residential areas from Thursday 25 from 17:00 hours have joined the total confinement, since the health system is collapsed, in 24 hours they detected 6,155 new cases and 80 people have died according to the Ministry of Health. "The quarantine is painful, difficult, but given the advance of the viral circulation we have to take these measures for the health of the people," said the health minister. The 21 new residential areas that have been placed under containment are in the regions of Valparaíso, O'Higgins, Maule, Ñuble, Biobío, Coquimbo and Los Lagos.
During the previous weekend, the government issued almost 4 million permits for weekend travel; these are now suspended. The curfew in Chile will work as follows: temporary permits for essential procedures or to buy basic supplies will be reduced from five permits to two permits during the week.
Temporary permits are requested by citizens for different purposes, if you wish to attend a health centre, the duration of the permit is 12 hours. If you wish to purchase basic supplies, you have three hours, pet walking must last a maximum of 30 minutes, if you wish to make an essential payment for basic services, the permit allows you to circulate for three hours, the permit to attend a funeral of a direct relative is five hours if it is outside the region of the person's residence. For the transfer of parents or guardians to health establishments, it would be for three hours and twice a week.
How to apply for the permits, through the Virtual Police Station, you have to select on the web, the system gives the option to choose the corresponding permit, then the system selects a password for each user, within the profile you will have to complete the personal data, the reason for the permit and the hours that the person will be circulating on the street. The permit will be effective 15 minutes after the online application, if citizens extend the time allowed they will be subject to penalties.