Guatemala adds 36 more deaths due to Covid-19 and 1,194 new infections

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Guatemalan health authorities reported on Wednesday another 36 deaths due to covid-19 and 1,194 new infections in the last 24 hours.

According to the official report released by the Ministry of Public Health, the new cases of the coronavirus were detected after carrying out 7,955 tests on Tuesday, both in the public and private sectors.

With the 36 new deaths, Guatemala counts 7,642 deaths since the beginning of the pandemic in March 2020, in addition to 231,289 positive cases.

According to the official report, the cumulative incidence in Guatemala since the pandemic is 1,372 infections per 100,000 people. The mortality rate is 45.3 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants, and the death rate is 3.2 percent.

So far, 1,283,521 tests for covid-19 have been carried out in the country, with a positive proportion of 18.1 percent.

Guatemala is in the second phase of vaccination, which will be applied to adults over 70 years of age; after immunizing in the first phase, health employees and those who attend the health emergency in the first line.

According to the Ministry of Health, 1,950 people have received the complete vaccination scheme so far, i.e., both doses, while 174,152 have received the first dose since the immunization started on February 25.

SPUTNIK V VACCINES ARRIVE

The country presided over by Alejandro Giammattei received this Wednesday its first batch of Russian-made Sputnik V vaccine against covid-19, made up of 50,000 units, after a wait that lasted more than two weeks.

The vaccines arrived in a cargo plane at La Aurora International Airport in southern Guatemala City and were subsequently transferred to a Ministry of Health facility for safekeeping.

The Giammattei government had announced the arrival of the Russian vaccines for the last week of April and this past weekend, but they finally arrived this Wednesday.

Guatemala has received 304,100 vaccines (608,200 doses) for its population, mostly from AstraZeneca.