Nicolás Maduro confirmed this Sunday that Venezuela is facing a second wave of the covid-19 virus due mainly to the Brazilian variant. “It is a reality that Brazil is the biggest threat in the world and is affecting all its neighbors.” to point.
He also announced that Easter will be this year again in radical quarantine. “We are going to two weeks of radical quarantine “, he said. And is that for a few days now the reality in the neighboring country is undeniable in the face of increasing cases.
The Pérez family spent last Wednesday afternoon looking for a contingent to hospitalize the 68-year-old aunt who contracted covid-19. It was not until 7 pm that they got space in one of the clinics in the southeast of the Venezuelan capital.
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According to estimates from Imperial College London, which were released last week, up to 3,500 people are being added to the uncertain local list of people infected with the virus every day. The Maduro regime, however, the highest it has reported, until last Saturday, has been 1,160 new cases on this day.
In total it has recognized just over 150,000 infections since the first case was announced, just over a year ago. Sub-registration has since been reported, but has now become more evident. Clinics and hospitals have reported in recent days of full employment and, in some cases, of having exceeded capacity.
Concern among Venezuelans over the increase in cases is growing amid uncertainty. “We have spent a year in which at no time did the position of official spokesperson or the person responsible for carrying out health policies take necessary forecasts,” denounced, in conversation with EL TEMPS, Jaume Lorenzo, executive director of United Physicians of Venezuela (MUV).
At the start of the pandemic, this organization highlighted the “compromised” situation in which the country’s hospital establishments found themselves. A year later, they regret that the Maduro regime has not made the necessary purchases to take on the “continuous and efficient” supply of materials, for the care of covid-19 and other diseases.
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The consequences are unfortunate. According to official figures, about 1,500 people have lost their lives in Venezuela due to this disease. Nevertheless, only in a municipality of the Táchira state, border with Colombia, the mayor acknowledged 849 deaths from covid-19, which would account for more than half of the deaths allowed by the regime. Not to mention that, among health personnel, the death toll rose to 369 people until last Friday, according to MUV figures.
Brazilian strain?
In the first days of the month, Maduro confirmed the presence of the Brazilian strain of covid-19, for which he announced special prevention measures. “The problem is trying to find an explanation for a situation that got out of hand. “ lash Lorenzo. In his view, the regime would not have a clear characterization of the disease as it would not be doing proper research.
“Case research is not questioning, it is testing, and the test is the molecular test, PCR“You should be covering the Venezuelan population at a very high percentage to say how many patients you have symptomatic and asymptomatic and with that you make socio-political or socio-economic decisions,” said the executive director of MUV.
Since the arrival of the pandemic in this country it has been reported that the evidence is insufficient. Earlier this month, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reiterated this, reporting that just 5 of the 24 Venezuelan states had direct access to the processing of PCR tests.
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More recently, however, lthe Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) recognized an improvement in the network and organization of the logistics of taking and sending samples to Venezuela, And reported a 600% increase in the use of this method, since January this year, to exceed, on March 15, the 21,500 tests performed.
dangerous cocktail
In June 2020, Venezuela began implementing a method called 7×7, one week of radicalization of quarantine, followed by one of flexibility.
In December, however, Maduro relaxed his quarantine throughout the month, which he repeated in the week of Carnival.
“We have been led to believe that the pandemic was under control and we see how the regime irresponsibly promoted a carnival open to the whole country, which today is certainly beginning to translate into new outbreaks of contagion,” warned the Opposition party First Justice, in a statement issued last Tuesday.
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“Since October, approximately, we are noticing, and it has become more evident in January, a migration inside the medical staff. They are not leaving the country, but they are looking for other sources of income and therefore they are withdrawing from the public health system, “said Lorenzo, who referred to poor wages and deplorable working conditions.
The specialist adds a fourth ingredient to the mixture: the way in which vaccination is being carried out, without a plan known to all, just over a month before the first doses of Sputnik arrive and begin. V.
The president of the National Academy of Medicine, Enrique López Loyo, said that COVID-19 vaccination coverage did not reach 5 percent last Friday, and has estimated that, at this rate, herd immunization could be achieved in 2 years.
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ANDREINA ITRIAGO
EL TEMPS correspondent
Caracas (Venezuela)