Guatemala Declares a 30-Days New Emergency State

Guatemala's President Alejandro Giammattei declared a new emergency state starting on Saturday to curb the spread of the COVID-19 Delta strain. 

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The "public calamity state" will be in force for the next 30 days as the Central American country experiences a steady spike in COVID-19 contagions which climbed to 407,564 cases as of Saturday morning. 

Health authorities warned over a critical situation in the country's hospital system as there are only 2,511 beds available, 900 of which did not exist prior to the pandemic.

The new measure allows the imposition of a night curfew from 10.00 PM to 04:00 AM and other movement restrictions. 

Despite the new prohibitions, Guatemalans will be allowed to hold demonstrations with due notification and the observance of health protocols. 

Administering 2.462.592 doses since the start of the vaccination program, health authorities have only vaccinated 0.36 percent of the Guatemalan population. 

Born in India, the COVID-19 Delta variant has a transmission capacity between 30 and 60 percent higher than that of the other variants, thus generating a higher risk of hospitalization and reinfection.