Peru warned that it is in “the highest part” of the second wave of COVID-19

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Peru’s Minister of Health, Óscar Ugarte, declared that the country is in “the highest part of the second wave” of COVID-19, after a new increase in infections.

The head of the health portfolio blamed this increase in cases, as well as deaths, on the mobilization of people, such as their use of public transport, he said on Canal N. “In the two previous weeks, a slowdown was mentioned, that is, the growth trend was lower, but in the last week it has resumed,” he said.

In the latest update of the disease figures in the Andean country, health authorities have confirmed 5,266 new positives and 186 hospital discharges, and 231 deaths due to the disease. However, on Friday, a record number of daily infections was registered since the beginning of the pandemic, with more than 12,000 new confirmed cases.

With these figures, the total number of accumulated infections in Peru is 1,529,882 and compared to the 1,442,405 patients who have managed to recover; there are so far 51,469 fatalities. On the other hand, the Ministry of Health has reported that there were 15,130 hospitalized patients up to Sunday, of which 2,255 are reportedly occupying beds in intensive care units.

According to the website OpenCovid-Peru, the country continues to be under a hospital collapse, as it has less than 100 ICU beds available nationwide. In Lima, it has just six free places, according to the latest report.

Regarding the controversy raised by the decision to move Lima from the “extreme risk” to the “very high risk” category -in the scale established by the Government-, the minister considered that it was not a bad decision and argued that “in the objective evaluation of what was happening in Metropolitan Lima, the indicators had improved, (…). Therefore it was said: ‘we are going to take these measures, but according to how the situation goes, we can restrict the measures'”, he indicated.

Peruvians will go to the polls this April 11 to elect the successor to interim President Francisco Sagasti and renew the 130-member Congress while the pandemic continues unabated. Although the National Electoral Jury asked the candidates in January to avoid organizing massive acts, none has heeded this call.

“We see that the candidates have intensified their campaigns, practically all of them are carrying out activities with a high risk of transmission” of COVID-19, says to AFP, the head of the Public Health Commission of the Peruvian Medical Association, Augusto Tarazona.

“Proselytizing activities that involve crowds of people expose their own militants, activists, the candidates themselves, and the population to a high risk,” he adds.

Even before the electoral campaign, it was difficult for the authorities to avoid agglomerations. With 70% of Peruvians working informally, thousands take to the streets to make a living, a good part of them in informal fairs.

Source: infobae