RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Paraguay currently registers a never before seen peak of community infections of Covid-19, when observing a higher average of 1,000 cases per day, according to an official report from the Ministry of Health released this Wednesday, February 24th.
Recently, the South American country has experienced a considerable increase in infections, that is, 20% more than the previous week, declared the Director of Sanitary Surveillance of the Ministry of Health, Guillermo Sequera.
The official argued that this is mainly due to the increase in human interactions, either in the workplace due to the empowerment of more and more economic sectors, or in leisure activities.
He also noted that the country has had significant growth in testing capacity, with the accession of more private laboratories and the public sector for the diagnosis of the disease, through which it is possible to have a more complete panorama of the epidemic.
He highlighted that the number of tests per capita that Paraguay currently performs, on average 3,500 per day, is similar to that verified in Japan or South Korea, countries that carry out permanent surveillance of the virus.
“We are at a time of many cases in the community, with a high level of contagion. We also have new test numbers and that makes us perceive more cases, and at the same time, that the panorama we have of the disease is much more accurate,” said the epidemiologist.
Paraguay already has around 155,000 cases of Covid-19, with a total of 154,904 confirmed to date, when 1,114 new positives were reported this Wednesday, all community cases.
Similarly, in the last 24 hours there were another 18 deaths, bringing the total number of deaths so far in the pandemic to 3,119.
At the same time, the number of hospitalized as a result of the disease continues to rise, with a total of 941 to date, 256 of them in the intensive care unit.
In return, some 900 new patients managed to overcome the pandemic virus, thus totaling 129,631 recovered patients.
This week the South American country began immunization against the Coronavirus of front-line medical personnel, between therapists and the contingency area, with the application of the Vaccine Russian Sputnik V.
In total, there will be 2,000 white professionals from Capital and from the Central, Alto Paraná, Itapúa, Concepción, Cordillera, Guairá, Caaguazú and Amambay departments, those immunized in this first stage.
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— For the complete picture, read our in-depth guide: Paraguay: Washington's Most Valued Ally in Latin America
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