Bolivia surpasses 478,000 Covid cases; delayed second Russian doses arrive (August 8)

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Bolivia surpassed this Sunday the 478,000 accumulated cases of covid-19. It registered 17,983 deaths on a day in which the Bolivian Government announced the arrival of the second dose of the Russian vaccine Sputnik V which had been delayed.

According to the last report released by the Ministry of Health this Sunday, 367 new covid-19 infections and 12 deaths were reported.

The regions that registered the highest number of infections are the eastern region of Santa Cruz with 110, Chuquisaca with 96, and La Paz with 63 cases.

The other six Bolivian regions reported infections ranging from 56 to six cases.

With these data, Bolivia had 478,063 infections since the detection of the first cases in March last year.

The number of recovered cases is 415,355, while the number of active cases is 44,725, according to the report of the Ministry of Health.

This Sunday, the president of Bolivia, Luis Arce, announced through his social networks that the Russian Direct Investment Fund “has delivered to Bolivia the second necessary doses of Sputnik V vaccine”.

“The vaccines arrive in batches and will begin to be applied this week,” Arce wrote.

The Vice-Minister of Promotion, Epidemiological Surveillance and Traditional Medicine, María Renée Castro, informed that these second doses would begin to be distributed in the different regions as of Monday and said that other batches would arrive in the next few days.

These vaccines are prioritized for the population that has already received the first dose and has already spent 90 days or more since its first inoculation.

Last month there were blockades and protests at vaccination points due to the shortage of second Russian doses.

The Ministry of Health report states that 1,806,431 have completed the covid-19 vaccination scheme in the country, and 2,929,060 received the first vaccine.

In Bolivia, a vaccination plan has been underway since late January, starting with front-line health personnel and progressively expanding by age and occupation. Since the second week of July, those over 18 years of age and pregnant women.

This plan includes doses purchased from Sinopharm and the Russian Sputnik V, in addition to those obtained through the United Nations Covax mechanism from Oxford-AstraZeneca, Pfizer, and Janssen.