COVID-19 cases skyrocket in Barranquilla and Soledad

According to the latest report from the Ministry of Health, the cases in Soledad and Barranquilla soared. The ministry’s figures confirm that there are 42 new cases in Atlántico, of which 19 are in Barranquilla, 17 in Soledad, 3 in Malambo, 2 in Sabanagrande and one in Manatí.

Soledad’s case has caused much concern among the health authorities of the department due to the significant increase in the number of those infected. In the last 48 hours, a total of 38 cases have been confirmed in this Atlantic population., which would show that 50% of the population is not complying with the mandatory preventive social isolation.

Also read: Positive cases increase to 130 and recovered to 51 in Barranquilla

The department’s secretary of Health, Alma Solano, said that this situation warrants quick actions ranging from the identification of cases to the isolation of some patients in authorized shelters, in order to guarantee that the patient can comply with the quarantine.

“We have to make a direct call to each of the citizens, who have to get in tune with the situation because otherwise the cases will continue to increase. It is a matter of citizen discipline; then we need their support, ”said Solano after learning about the report.

The official made several recommendations to the mayor of Soledad, Rodolfo Ucros, to try to contain the spread of COVID-19, especially among the most vulnerable population in the municipality. One of the actions is to promote citizen discipline through the social leaders of the neighborhoods and community radio stations, such as the representative figures of each of the sectors, because “we are going to get complicated quickly” and the cases have to be contained .

“The other thing we need is that there is a strict monitoring of the isolation of people; that is to say, that the people who come out positive cannot leave their house and they also have to keep some conditions of isolation inside their house (separated from the rest of the family) ”. This monitoring and accompaniment of the process is the responsibility of the Soledad Health Secretariat.

The Secretary of Health of the Atlantic, according to what Alma Solano said, will follow up on the people who can stay inside their home. Solano’s idea is support the Soledad Mayor’s Office in this process, especially where there may be a risk factor for complications.

“Today we were precisely organizing this issue and, in addition to this vigilance on citizen discipline, we are going to review the sectors that are most at risk and the areas that may be most vulnerable, whether or not they have positive cases, to be able to make an analysis of that population. It is to look at how they are behaving and to generate reinforcing actions, especially in what we call an active search from the line of health ”.

In this sense, he recalled that the health line can call those people when they have suspicious cases. Once you have this information, you have the possibility of having the Public Health Laboratory to analyze the tests that are taken from the patient.

In the rest of the country

The authorities confirmed 218 cases of COVID-19, with which 5,597 are infected, as well as nine deaths that increased the total number of deaths in the country to 253.

According to the Ministry of Health, 107 of the new patients were diagnosed in Bogotá and the rest in the departments of the Atlantic (42), Meta (16), Tolima (12), Antioquia (9), Valle (6), Huila (5), Bolívar and Cauca (4). In Quindío, Magdalena, Nariño and Cundinamarca there were three new patients in each one, while in Norte de Santander another one was confirmed.

Regarding the nine deaths, two occurred in Bogotá and one more in Soacha, a town located in the south of the city; while in the cities of Neiva, Santa Marta, Medellín and Cúcuta, there was one death in each of them.

The other two deaths occurred in the town of Quimbaya, which is part of the Quindío department, in the coffee zone in the center of the country, and in Tumaco (Nariño), Colombia’s second port in the Pacific.

The Ministry of Health added that 77 more people recovered in Colombia of COVID-19, with which there are already 1,210, corresponding to 21.62%. According to the balance, of the 4,134 active cases in the country, 3,739, who run Global Alert for Global Alert by weighing 90.45%, receive care at home; 278 patients (6.72%) are hospitalized and 117 patients (2.83%) remain admitted in intensive care units (ICU).

3,793 tests were processed yesterday, with which Colombia has already carried out 90,899 tests for this disease. Bogotá registers the main focus of COVID-19 in Colombia with 2,345 patients, followed by Valle del Cauca (847), Antioquia (461), Meta (248), Bolívar (244), Atlántico (218), Cundinamarca (213), Risaralda (185), Magdalena (163), Nariño (96 ), Huila (92) and Norte de Santander (62).