Peru To Apply a Curfew in Provinces With High COVID-19 Rates

Peru's Cabinet Chief Violeta Bermudez on Wednesday announced the lifting of the nationwide quarantine and the approval of a curfew on provinces with extreme COVID-19 risk levels.

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The decision cancels the quarantine imposed on Jan. 31 and extended until Feb. 28 in response to the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

From March 1 to 14, the provincial curfews will be in effect from 9:00 pm until 4:00 am. A nationwide "social immobilization" will also be implemented on Sundays.

Currently, there are 24 departments under a COVID-19 extreme risk label, including Lima and 166 districts at very high or high-risk alerts.

Bermudez noted that the new measures respond to both a slight improvement in COVID-19 indicators and the need to reactivate the economy.

As of Wednesday, 204.000 people had been vaccinated with the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine developed by the Chinese Sinopharm laboratory.

So far, Peru has also reached agreements with Pfizer, AstraZeneca, and the COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access Facility (COVAX) for the purchase of over 35 million vaccines.