Paraguay registers triple record at worst time of pandemic

Paraguay closed Tuesday with 2,125 COVID-19 infections, 1,250 patients affected by the disease hospitalised on the ward and 324 in intensive care, the highest figures of the pandemic in a health system on red alert due to the sharp increase in cases.

Since the first positive result was recorded a year ago, it is the first time that these three indicators have registered records at the same time, with the accumulated number of cases of infection rising to 171,985 and the number of deaths to 3,360, including 17 in the last few hours, according to the Paraguayan Ministry of Health.

Central, the department bordering the country's capital, is the region with the greatest impact with a total of 72,900 positive cases (43.4%), followed by Asunción with 40,143 (23.9%) and Alto Paraná, bordering Brazil, with 12,855 (7.6%). 

The area of sustained expansion continues with Itapúa, on the border with Argentina and the main southern destination for tourism in this summer season in the southern hemisphere, with 6,827 (4.1 %), which appears in red on the risk map that measures the intensity of transmission in the last two weeks.

The daily report of cases was preceded on Tuesday by a communiqué from the health authorities warning of a "red health alert" due to the sustained and record increase in contagions with a call to "be aware" and avoid situations that could "lead to a collapse of the health system".

It adds that, should health protocols be breached, among which the use of masks is mandatory, the consequence for the population in the next two weeks will be "hospital overload due to mass infection and the death of more compatriots".

Citizens are therefore urged to avoid "crowds, reduce the time and frequency of meetings and gatherings and postpone all non-essential activities".

The sharp increase in cases comes as the new health minister, Julio Borba, took office on Tuesday as part of a government reshuffle aimed at defusing public protests over the lack of medicines for coronavirus patients.

Citizen reaction last week forced the resignation of his predecessor, Julio Mazzoleni, although the organisers of the daily protest marches are demanding the resignation of Paraguay's president, Mario Abdo Benítez, a member of the conservative Colorado Party, who is blamed responsible for the health crisis. 

Meanwhile, the new education minister, Juan Manuel Brunetti, has not ruled out the possibility of suspending classes, which began this month in combination with virtual classes, in high-risk areas in order to curb the transmission of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus.