Covid-19: Argentina sees contagions increase, with Copa America in sight

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Argentina continues to suffer the consequences of the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic, with infection figures that reached a peak on Thursday, May 27, with 41,080 new cases, despite the restrictions in force.

There is another challenge on the horizon: the offer to host the Copa America, the main soccer tournament in South America.

The continental tournament is scheduled to begin on June 13. Although the venue was initially to be shared between Argentina and Colombia, the latter country was left out due to the health and social crisis it is going through. It is expected that the entire tournament will fall on Argentina; how this can be carried out is being studied.

The South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL) announced this Wednesday that it held meetings with the Argentine government in which “the organizational and logistic aspects were evaluated -with the eventual certification of additional venues- and everything concerning sanitary protocols.”

CONMEBOL’S POSITION

“The analysis of the dispute of this CONMEBOL Copa América and its sanitary protocols so that it can be organized in the country will be under the rigorous study of officials of the Ministry of Health of the Argentine Republic. This was agreed by the President of the Republic of Argentina, Alberto Fernández, and the head of Conmebol, Alejandro Domínguez, in a meeting,” states the communiqué.

The organization is optimistic about the safety of the event, and according to the deputy secretary of the Confederation, Gonzalo Belloso, the health strategy includes the vaccination of the delegations.

“The delegations that come will be vaccinated. We have seven or eight countries already vaccinated. We are in a position to vaccinate all the delegations members, and those who do not wish to receive the vaccine will sign a document stating that they do not wish to receive it. With this, we will have armor for the Cup,” he affirmed in declarations to Radio la Red.

CONTAGION DESPITE RESTRICTIONS

The health situation led the Argentine government to decree last week strict restrictions on mobility for a period of ten days, with the suspension of all physical activity in the economic and social sphere and the prohibition to circulate between 6 PM and 6 AM, although these measures, which in principle end this Sunday, have not yet had an impact on the number of contagions, which continues to rise.

Meanwhile, the vaccination campaign is progressing with 11.67 million doses applied, of which 9 million people have received only one dose, and 2.6 million received both doses.

The country has another 2.6 million doses not yet applied, a figure that authorities expect to grow next week with the arrival of doses, announced by the Minister of Health, Carla Vizzotti.

ARRIVAL OF NEW VACCINES

“We continue adding. Today we received confirmation that Monday, another 2,148,600 doses of Argentina’s bilateral agreement with AstraZeneca are arriving in the country. The flight is scheduled to land in Ezeiza at 7:55 AM. This way, we will exceed 17 million vaccine doses, which is 17 million hopes”, the Minister published.

In the city of Buenos Aires, one of the jurisdictions most affected by this second wave, the authorities announced that people between 45 and 59 years old with some risk factor can access the vaccine.

“We are intensifying the Covid-19 Vaccination Plan. If you are between 45 and 59 years old and have risk conditions prioritized for vaccination, you can now register to get an appointment for the application of the first dose,” posted the Secretary of Health of the capital, Fernán Quirós.

Quirós appeared this Friday before the press and called for “caution”, and stressed that it is necessary to wait for new data on contagions before making decisions on the evolution of the restrictions. However, he made it clear that the reopening of schools is the priority for the Buenos Aires Government. “If we were in condition (to do so), the school is the first thing we would open”, he affirmed.

One of the data that the authorities will consider before defining new measures is the occupation of intensive care beds, which in the whole country is at 76.2 %, a figure that reaches 77.5 % in the capital and its populous metropolitan area.

Since the arrival of the pandemic in the country in March 2020, the total number of infections has reached 3,663,215, of which 76,135 patients have died.