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The team ICovid Chile, an initiative led by the University of Chile, the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile and the University of Concepción, presented its report number 26 this Thursday, a document that alerts a generalized deterioration in the Araucanía Region in the last seven days.
This, when for the third consecutive week the dynamics of national cargo -Estimated number of new cases of coronavirus per 100 thousand inhabitants- appears in red, although with a slight fall of 3.5 percent, with which the transmission index (R) went from 1.03 to 0.99.
In that context is that Atacama and La Araucanía register a significant increase in new cases, “with an expanding epidemic,” according to the report, while In 13 of the remaining regions, the burden of disease shows values similar to those of last week, and R values around one; the same happens at the level of positivity, despite the increases in Tarapacá, Antofagasta, and again, La Araucanía.
The exception is the Metropolitan Region, in which a significant decrease of 9.7 percent of new cases, despite the fact that the estimated range of R values remains high.
In this sense, the engineer and academic from the Faculty of Economics and Business of the University of Chile, Eduardo Engel, emphasized the difference of this result “with what was observed in Atacama and La Araucanía, where new cases grew 70 percent and 30 percent, respectively “.
“As a consequence of the increase in new cases nationwide in previous weeks, demand for ICU beds continues to grow, approaching saturation level“added the expert.
Indeed, the upward trend in the occupancy of ICU beds -total and for infected with the virus- continues in recent weeks, despite noticing a slowdown in the growth rate of the pandemic. According to the document, this is explained by the time that elapses between infection and the development of symptoms that lead people to hospitalization.
Faced with these figures, Engel reaffirmed that although the beginning of the mass vaccination “It is very good news, several months must elapse before this process can contribute to a significant reduction in hospitalizations“, also reiterating that” it remains a priority to maintain and improve the effectiveness of the measures that help to contain the community transmission of the virus. “
EARLY CONSULTATION IN ARAUCANÍA IS THE LOWEST IN THE COUNTRY
Refering to early confirmation of cases, it keeps around 40 percent at the national level, while there is a reversal of the downward trend between mid-December and January in the sampling and laboratory processes.
Once again, This is not the case in La Araucanía, which last week showed the lower proportions of early consultation throughout Chile, something that worries the academic of the School of Public Health of the University of Chile, Alejandra Fuentes-Garcia.
“Its critical situation in contagion dynamics and high percentage of test positivity, requires speeding up processes and urgently increasing early traceability coverage, in order to control the transmission of SARS-CoV2 in the community, “he urged.
