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Scientists that make up the ICOVID Chile team indicated that cases of covid-19 increased, while infections accelerated in the Maule, Bío Bío and Magallanes regions.
In the fifth installment of its report, it is argued that the number of new cases rose in relation to last week of “10.74 to 12.28 new cases on average per 100,000 inhabitants”, staying red (out of control).
Of course, it is limited that said item reached “Levels higher and similar to those of the first days of May during the rising phase of the first wave of the pandemic”.
Along these lines, although it is noted that the indicator reached “red levels in all regions”, the panorama in the “regions of Arica and Parinacota (35.9), Atacama (16.9), El Maule (17.9) is particularly worrying. , Bío Bío (21.1) and above all, Magallanes (163.3) ”.
“The dynamics of infections at the national level continues to be worrying and with signs of worsening, this time dominated due to the markedly high loads and transmission rates in the southern regions “, limits the document.
Pandemic growth
“The national situation continues to be critical, with high viral load and transmission, particularly at the expense of what happens in the south central zone, Maule, Biobío, Los Ríos and Magallanes ”, explained Ana María Moraga, epidemiologist and head of the Medicine career at the University of Concepción.
Likewise, he pointed out that the hospital capacity in these regions, added to the Coquimbo region, “There is also criticism, as it was in June”, with the difference that now I know owes local patients and not from the Metropolitan region.
For his part, Marcelo Olivares, an academic at the University of Chile, pointed out that the increase and focus of the infectious load – unlike the peak that occurred in May and June last – is “Outside the Metropolitan Region, which, due to the strong increase in hospital occupancy, has led to the transfer of patients between regions”.
“Traceability urgently needs to be reinforced in primary care, and, in the same way, make the population participate in the control of the pandemic through better risk communication, “he added.
Although the outlook is worrying in the regions already mentioned, José Zubizarreta, an expert in statistics and an academic at Harvard University, stated that “The Los Ríos region can become a new focus. At the national level, for now, there is no clear evidence of an outbreak, but for the first time, such high levels of new cases have been observed in the south ”.
According to data from the ICovid Chile report, the traceability indicator “Proportion of cases reported within 48 hours of onset of symptoms” has gradually improved from May to date, rising from “10% to 30-35% and remaining stable in that range”.
Despite the foregoing, it is asserted that “important variations are observed between regions, in the range of 20% to 40%. These levels of variability give an indication that it is possible to improve traceability in different areas of the country ”.
Testing and hospital capacity
In relation to the tests, it was reported in the report that the “positivity of the test at the country level remains at a similar value to the previous week, with 6% of the tests carried out with a positive result “.
Despite this, it is stated that the regions of Maule and Magallanes increased their “weekly positivity, from 6.1% to 7.6% in Maule, and from 20.5% to 24.6% in Magallanes ”, highlighting -for their part- positively the regions of Tarapacá, Antofagasta, Atacama and Coquimbo, which decreased in this item.
In this sense, at the national level a good testing capacity is maintained, with “10.2 tests per thousand inhabitants weekly average“, While in the last week there were “Slight increases in Arica, Metropolitan Region, O’Higgins, Ñuble, Aysén and Magallanes”.
Regarding the hospital capacity of the integrated care system, the report reflected a trend “towards an increase in the occupancy of ICU beds reaching 77% occupancy nationwide “.
“The critical situation of Magallanes is concerned with 93% occupancy in the last week and with a sustained tendency to increase and also critical situations in the regions of Araucanía (83%), Bío Bío (82%, increasing) and Antofagasta and Valparaíso (81%) ”, the document states.
You can read the full statement below:
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