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Possible Presence of UK Strain Puts Bogota on Red Alert

  • A soldier watches the streets in the Suba neighborhood, Bogot, Colombia, Jan. 7, 2021.

    A soldier watches the streets in the Suba neighborhood, Bogot, Colombia, Jan. 7, 2021. | Photo: EFE

Published 7 January 2021
Opinion

In the capital of Colombia, the pandemic's second peak is showing a much more drastic behavior than expected, as there are cases with higher viral load.

Bogota's Major Claudia Lopez on Thursday announced that the recent increase in COVID-19 cases has caused an occupation of 85 percent of the city's Intensive Care Units (ICU), which made her declare a red alert.

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"British strain is already circulating in the capital city," she said and attributed that presence to the people who arrived in the country from abroad since mid-December.

Lopez acknowledged that local health authorities could not determine with certainty the presence of the new COVID-19 strain. However, the pandemic's recent behavior would seem to show that the British variant is already present.

In Bogota, the pandemic's second peak is showing a much more drastic behavior than expected, as there are cases with higher viral load.

Besides, the Mayor said that the most affected locality is the Usaquen neighborhood where "more passengers from foreign flights arrive and live."

To fight against the pandemic, Lopez declared "total mobility restriction" in Bogota from midnight today until January 12. From this day until January 17, however, the city will have a night curfew from 8:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.

On Wednesday, Colombia registered 295 deaths from coronavirus and 16,805 new infections.

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