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The Government made the announcement before the 60% increase in infections in the country, 2,660 new ones in a single day. There are already more than 34,000 patients.
“The most severe measure I must announce is a total quarantine in Greater Santiago,” where more than 80% of those infected are at the national level, said Health Minister Jaime Mañalich.
To the newly infected, there are 12 more deaths in the last 24 hours.
The measure involves communes in the capital where they had lifted mandatory confinement in the past three weeks.
The total quarantine has been in force since May 15 at 10:00 p.m., which affects about 8 million people, but that was a request made by different mayors and medical organizations in recent days.
“The month of May is being very hard on our country and we have to take the appropriate measures at the right time to be able to contain this disease,” said the Minister of Health.
“The battle for Santiago is the crucial battle in this war against coronavirus“he added.
This is the biggest spike in new daily cases since the first contagion was detected in the country on March 3 and brings the total number of infected to 34,381, of which about 15,000 have already recovered.
In the last 24 hours, in addition, the number of deceased rose to 347, after the death of 12 people, most of them in the capital, where experts say that hospitals are at 85% of their capacity.
Unlike other countries in the region with fewer cases such as Argentina or Colombia, the Government of Chile rejected from the beginning to decree national confinement and to completely close the economy and opted for “selective and strategic quarantines”, with restrictions that are imposed and they rise in each commune or city according to the new infections.
It is the first time since the pandemic began in Chile that the so-called “Greater Santiago”, made up of 32 communes (neighborhoods), will go into quarantine at the same time, since the eastern areas were initially confined and more recently it was their turn to those of the suburbs.
“These measures are necessary, but they are painful, they can be terrible and we have to be there to help the most vulnerable groups,” said the minister, who also announced a ban on the street for people over the country 75 years.
Chile is under a state of emergency, with a curfew since 10:00 pm since mid-March, with schools, universities and borders closed, as well as most non-necessity shops.
The new cases had stabilized around 500 a day at the end of April and the authorities were already talking about exceeding the contagion peak and returning to normal, but since the beginning of the month they experienced a significant increase above one thousand.
