Pandemic: Uruguay goes from being the example to the worst in the region

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Uruguay registered this Monday at least 647 new cases of coronavirus out of a total of 10,912 tests, informed the National Emergency System (Sinae), and has ceased to be the successful example of pandemic control to become the country that leads the world in infections.

According to El Cronista, the ‘Our World in Data’ page, which systematizes official information on the pandemic, has Uruguay at the top of the list with 837 new cases per million inhabitants, which surpasses the records of the rest of the countries.

It is followed by Brazil (354 cases per million inhabitants), Chile (347), Paraguay (291), and Argentina, closing the top five with 225 cases.

Since the health emergency was declared last year, Uruguay has accumulated 119,958 confirmed coronavirus cases, 1,146 deaths, and 89,035 recovered cases.

In the last 24 hours alone, 45 deaths of Covid-19 patients between 40 and 98 years old, reported El Observador, citing data from the National Emergency System (Sinae).

Also, 404 patients with Covid-19 remain in ICU beds, which means an occupancy rate of 45.5%, a percentage that exceeds the 35% set to reach a compromised situation of material and human resources to attend the critical care area.

Of the 887 operational beds in total, 639 are occupied, indicating a total occupancy rate of 72%.

Until February, Uruguay was still one of the least affected countries in terms of number of infections and deaths. Still, infections began to increase as it felt the impact of the arrival of the Brazilian variants.

The increase in cases is occurring, as in Chile, at a time of a successful vaccination campaign that has allowed the immunization of 20% of the population, making it the second-best in Latin America in this mission.

The health emergency is unleashing an internal crisis for President Luis Lacalle Pou, who had managed to control the pandemic without implementing mobility restrictions. More and more voices are demanding more drastic measures like those taken in other countries, such as the closure of stores and quarantines.

But the president refuses to do so not to affect the economy, which fell by 5.9% in 2020 alone, putting the brakes on 17 years of uninterrupted growth.