© EFE / Alejandro Zepeda
Hundreds of people wait to receive the third dose of the covid-19 vaccine in Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico, January 7, 2022.
The Aztec country surpassed the figure of 300,000 registered deaths since the beginning of the pandemic and remains the fifth with the most deaths in the world. Meanwhile, despite a marathon day of inoculation, Bolivia broke its record for daily contagion, as did Uruguay, Argentina and Brazil; Ecuador and Colombia take extreme measures, Cuba donates vaccines to Syria and El Salvador reports a fourth day in a row without casualties.
Mexico stood out in a new dark day in Latin America after crossing the barrier of 300 thousand deaths. The official numbers provided by the Ministry of Health indicate that there are 300,101 deaths and there are estimates that affirm that the figure will increase to more than 450,000 by the time the pandemic ends.
These data place it as the fifth nation in the world with the most deaths after the United States, Brazil, India and Russia, according to statistics kept by Johns Hopkins University. In addition, it also surpassed the line of four million positive cases, being 16th in the global ranking.
This last Friday, January 7, the Aztecs added 28,023 infections, the second highest amount in one day since that reached on August 18, 2021, where there were almost 29 thousand cases. And it surpasses the highest peaks of the first wave (9,866) and the second (22,339).
Despite the data released, over the last week the Government defended its management of the pandemic and did not apply new restrictions. They also highlighted the work of the vaccination program, which has already applied 150 million doses.
In this framework, the Federal Commission for the Protection against Sanitary Risks authorized the emergency use of the drug from the pharmaceutical company Merck as a treatment against Covid-19. The agency clarified that a medical prescription will be required to “avoid misuse.”
South America and a day of record infections
The southern part of the continent had a hard day regarding the pandemic this Friday after various countries in the region recorded a peak day of positive cases, where the cases of Bolivia, Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay stand out.
The Bolivian Ministry of Health reported 11,190 cases, being an unprecedented brand within a fourth wave that increased all the figures in the most recent days. The epicenter was the Santa Cruz region -the most affected by the pandemic in these two years- with more than 5,500 cases, almost four thousand more than Cochabamba, the second with the highest negative numbers.
The good news for Bolivia, according to health authorities, is the low fatality rate in this fourth wave, which is barely 0.7%. The explanation lies in the acceleration of vaccination. Friday also stood out for being the most productive day in this area after applying 146,827 immunizations in 24 hours.
Meanwhile, Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina also noted January 7 as the date with the highest number of positive cases, at least for now, although the contexts are different. The South American giant, the second country in the world with the most deaths from coronavirus, had its most complex day since July 23. On Friday, he recorded more than 63,000 infected, the highest number from 108,000 six months ago.
For their part, according to the National Emergency System, they beat their highest record for the third consecutive day after reporting 6,104 cases, surpassing the 5,537 and 5,330 on Thursday and Wednesday, respectively.
Argentina reported more than 110,000 positive cases in a context where there is a significant mobilization of civilians during the holiday season and even without the Government adopting measures -except for the province of Córdoba, which restricted massive events-. The most affected sectors are Buenos Aires (40,327 infected), the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires (13,118) and Córdoba (12,827), although the mortality rate continues to be very low in proportion.
Ecuador and Colombia resolve new measures
In the northern part of South America, the Ecuadorian Government chose to toughen the national situation in the face of the worrying advance of infections (there are already more than ten thousand so far this year) and decided to suspend school classes for all fiscal institutions from 10 until January 16.
María Brown, Minister of Education, emphasized that this period “is not a vacation” but will be taken to increase vaccination in children who are older than seven years and provide the booster dose to all teaching staff who have applied the second five months ago.
For its part, the Executive of Peru is working to restart school attendance from the next school year that will begin at the end of March or the beginning of April. Classrooms have been closed since March 2020 and a large portion of the student body did not have access to classes remotely.
This occurs in a context where coronavirus cases are growing gradually, but when the vaccination process for children between five and 11 years will also begin on January 18. “We continue with the work in person, we must take all the provisions of the case with that objective, that goal,” said Rosendo Serna, Minister of Education.
Finally, the Colombian government reduced the days of preventive isolation for possible cases of Covid-19 from fourteen to seven. This occurs at a time when the Omicron variant advanced considerably, according to information issued by the Ministry of Health.
This happens on the same day that the largest number of cases were registered since last July 6, reaching more than 26 thousand positive cases and the highest number of deaths (59 people) since last September 11 that reported 63 casualties.
Coronavirus in Central America
The good news regarding the pandemic comes from El Salvador, after the absence of deaths from Covid-19 was reported for the fourth consecutive day, being almost an oasis worldwide.
“El Salvador for the fourth consecutive day is presenting zero cases of fatalities due to covid-19 and this is a reflection of all the work of the Health personnel and all the strategies implemented,” said the Minister of Health, Francisco Alabí.
Meanwhile, Cuba sent a donation to Syria with 120 thousand doses of the Abdala vaccine, designed by the state Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, which reaches an effectiveness of 92.2%.
Thus, the Asian nation will join Nicaragua, Venezuela, Iran, Vietnam and Mexico, who also received the Cuban inoculant. “We are sure that these vaccines will help reduce the impact of the pandemic in this sister country,” said the First Deputy Minister of Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment of Cuba, Ana Teresita González.
WITH EFE