Chile’s Tourist Cities Exceeded Covid-19 Infection Figures from Prior Critical Months

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The Tarapacá region in the north and Los Lagos in the south are displaying alarming figures. However, health authorities are not contemplating a ban on special vacation permits.

According to the latest epidemiological report from Chile’s Ministry of Health, there are cities exceeding the number of infections recorded in the worst days of the pandemic. These figures are compared to June and August, the most critical times last year.

The city of Iquique, in northern Chile, is one of the most affected by the second wave. Up to June 18th it had recorded a maximum of 575 cases, but currently (up to January 7th) it has recorded 896 formally active Covid-19 cases. Other affected places are mainly tourist areas such as Pichilemu, Pucón and Llanquihue.

Of these, Pichilemu, which is located in the O’Higgins region, 227 kilometers south of Santiago, marked a peak of 14 cases on July 19th and 24 on November 12th. Further south, Chillán reached a peak of 262 active cases in the first wave, but the September 6th mark was worse: 472. By the end of the year, the city had 501 Covid-19 cases.

According to a Ministry of Health report, a number of Chilean regions have already exceeded their worst Covid-19 infection rates.

Among other tourist towns in the south, Pucón marked 22 active cases on June 4th, and today records 37. Villarrica rose from 26 in June to 138 active cases in October.

Large cities like Valdivia had reached 70 infections and now cases have increased to 537. While in Puerto Montt there were 578 cases by August 2nd, today there are 952.

In Castro, on the Greater Island of Chiloé, there were only 18 cases on August 2nd, but today there are 109. Ancud had 41 cases on May 21st, and now the number has increased to 138.

The list of Chilean regions with their infection figures shows a dangerous increase over the past few days.

Despite this, Health authorities have not considered banning the granting of special vacation permits, which allow travel to tourist sites in the Andean country. The Undersecretary of Public Health, Paula Daza, has ruled this out. “At this time, we are going to maintain the permit because it is a health measure which is not only for Covid-19, but also for mental health. We would like to remind you that we have a Step by Step plan that does not allow municipalities that are in a more critical situation from the perspective of incidence, number of cases, positivity, municipalities in quarantine, to move from the quarantined municipalities to others,” she said.

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