Chile Sets New Restrictions to Contain COVID-19 Surge

On Monday, President Sebastian Piñera's administration announced new epidemiological restrictions in Santiago's Metropolitan area due to a new surge in COVID-19 cases.

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Across the country, new COVID-cases have been on the rise since July. Given that the epidemiological situation is particularly alarming in Santiago, the authorities recommend that the population stay indoors. From Oct. 27, residents of the metropolitan area will need a "mobility pass" if they wish to attend large gatherings or outdoors events.

During the last few weeks, the number of Intensive Care Unit (ICU) patients have increased as well. On Sunday, there were 435 ICU patients, 339 of whom required assisted breathing.

In the Coquimbo region, the ICU beds occupancy rate has reached 82 percent, which puts its local health system in a tense situation.

Regional Health Secretary Alejandro Garcia urged citizens to complete their vaccination since almost 30 percent of the active cases in his territory are from unvaccinated people.

Currently, there are currently over 13,000 active COVID-19 cases in Chile, a country that has recorded 1,683,451 cases and 37,685 related deaths since March 2020.

Health Minister Enrique Paris announced that his country has managed to get 39 million doses so far to serve the population. However, over 1 million people remain unvaccinated.