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News > Venezuela

Venezuela Showcases Progress in the Containment of COVID-19

  • hotograph of April 30, 2020 where people are seen in front of a wall decorated with drawings by Dr José Gregorio Hernández in the vicinity of the Nuestra Señora de La Candelaria Church, in Caracas.

    hotograph of April 30, 2020 where people are seen in front of a wall decorated with drawings by Dr José Gregorio Hernández in the vicinity of the Nuestra Señora de La Candelaria Church, in Caracas. | Photo: EFE

Published 7 May 2020
Opinion

Venezuela is the third Latin American country to present its experience at the WHO ministerial meeting, for the actions and measures applied in the management and containment of the pandemic

Venezuela presented this Thursday its national experience on managing the COVID-19 pandemic at the virtual ministerial meeting convened by the World Health Organization (WHO).

The Minister of Popular Power for Health, Dr. Carlos Alvarado, led the intervention on the experience of Venezuela for the proper management of the pandemic and the results obtained to date, which was convened to present his expertise for the appropriate management of the pandemic and the results obtained to date.

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In this virtual information session, health ministers from around the world, from all continents, government representatives and diplomats worldwide participated. This is the third information session convened by the WHO, where the countries of the six regions that make up the Organization are invited.

Minister Alvarado presented the statistics of COVID-19 in the country, where the first cases appeared on March 13, 2020. "To date, 367 confirmed cases had been diagnosed, managing to maintain the flattened epidemic curve, with low lethality and high recovery rate".

He explained that more than 16,500 diagnostic tests per million inhabitants had been carried out in the Latin American nation, where 45% of the cases have already recovered, 193 cases remain active. Ten deaths have been registered, with a fatality rate of 2,72%.

According to Minister Alvarado, of the 193 active cases, 60% are asymptomatic, 38% present mild acute respiratory infections, 1.5% moderate, and 0.5% severe cases. 98% of the cases in Venezuela behave in a mild or asymptomatic way, 2% in a moderate or critical way.

Statistics presented by Venezuela indicate that 78% of COVID-19 cases have been diagnosed in patients between the ages of 20 and 59. 28% of cases are imported, 25% through direct contact with international travelers, 47% are due to instances of community transmission.

Alvarado stressed that in Venezuela the key to controlling COVID-19 had been early preparation, the creation of the Presidential Council where activities are planned and executed, led by the President of the Republic, Nicolás Maduro; the decree of the social and collective quarantine, the timely diagnosis, the preparation of the health centers.

Likewise, the delivery of free treatment schemes for COVID-19 for the private and public system, the strengthening of the first level of health care, articulated with the organized community, and the use of the technological platform for the expanded survey that allowed to carry out a personalized diagnosis.

The Health Minister stressed that social and economic protection measures join these actions through the direct subsidy in food and money to families; also, the State assumed the payrolls of small and medium-sized companies.

In his speech, he made it clear that international solidarity cooperation, through the World Health Organization (WHO), the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), the United Nations System and countries such as China, Russia, and Cuba, has been vital in acquiring diagnostic tests, personal protective equipment, and treatments.

"Venezuela has faced, for five years, a financial blockade and unilateral and illegal coercive measures executed by the U.S. and its allies, which hinder access to our resources in international banking, to acquire inputs," Alvarado explained, mentioning the situation. That hinders the acquisition of supplies.

Finally, he mentioned the challenges that COVID-19 represents for Venezuela and the world, among which he highlighted research on the disease, new treatments, post-pandemic immunity, the progressive lifting of quarantine, the creation of vaccines, and universal accessibility to the same, the control of all the countries and the economic reactivation.

"In Venezuela, we have a particular challenge because we are caring with love every countryman/woman who returns from neighboring countries such as Brazil and Colombia, where the statistics of confirmed cases of COVID-19 are alarming," he said.

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