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Health Minister Enrique Paris raised the possibility of a second wave of covid-19 infections in the country, which could even be much larger.
Just yesterday, the minister acknowledged in the Minsal balance that there has been an increase in cases in the Metropolitan Region, although he emphasized that it does not compare to the levels of May, when the peak of the disease was registered.
The Metropolitan Region has experienced a progressive opening of commerce and other activities, with several of the communes in stages of Preparation and Initial Opening within the Step by Step Plan, which allows the opening of malls, shops and other types of activities, but always with the necessary safeguards such as the use of a mask and physical distancing.
The last measure that began to take effect this week was the reopening of borders at the Arturo Merino Benítez Airport, which establishes that non-resident foreigners who enter Chile until December 7 must comply with a 14-day quarantine, even if they have a negative PCR , if they come from a country with community transmission, according to the WHO.
Paris was asked about an eventual outbreak in a report by T13, indicating that “we are thinking that a second wave may come, but we are closely monitoring the statistics and the presence of the virus in those regions. If people here in the summer do not take care of themselves, they do not wear a mask, they do not have the physical distance, when winter comes in March, April, May and it begins to close in, obviously the second wave could come. “
To illustrate, the minister mentioned the case of Punta Arenas, where the second wave was six times greater than the first, as is happening in several European countries.
In addition, he warned that “if a second wave comes, it will be much larger. In fact, only for Santiago we predict that we can have between 5,000 and 7,000 cases of covid, which is what we had throughout the country. Obviously we can have a very serious collapse of the hospital system. “
Regarding an eventual end of the state of exception, the secretary of state said that “he would prefer that the curfew not be annulled, because it also has a fact that is rather legal: that it also gives more powers to the health authority.”
Finally, Minister Paris announced that for the Christmas and New Year festivities, a plan similar to “Fondéate en tu casa” will be applied. “I think we are going to have to control travel. The New Year is much more dangerous than the Christmas holidays, anyway.”
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