Home » News » Balance Covid-19: Minsal highlights progress in traceability and ensures that positivity continues to decline, but admits concern about Magellan’s situation

Balance Covid-19: Minsal highlights progress in traceability and ensures that positivity continues to decline, but admits concern about Magellan’s situation

Health Minister Enrique Paris headed this Sunday a new televised balance sheet of the Covid-19 pandemic in the country. The head of the Minsal, that was questioned this week in his management, the report on the coronavirus started highlighting an increase in the detection of those patients who are asymptomatic thanks to the “active search” of cases.

“There is no traceability system that can cover everything that needs to be traced. We have realized that, despite the fact that progress has been enormous. But here we must highlight a very important fact. Currently we detect by active search of cases, more than 30% of the patients and in the Metropolitan Region 32% of those patients are asymptomatic, “he argued.

“So when we are asked to detect the patient when they start with symptoms, and 32% at the metropolitan level and 30% at the national level are asymptomatic, it is really very difficult to identify,” he added.

“That is why we have to rely on the polymerase chain reaction test – when it is positive – to begin traceability. Obviously we will try to make efforts also with regard to symptomatic patients, without a doubt,” he said.

Paris acknowledged certain difficulties in traceability but commented that today a new record of PCR tests was reached (with 31,981) and stressed that the positivity rate today is 6.4%. “We are getting very close to the percentage recommended by the WHO,” said Dr. Paris, however, he expressed special concern about mobility and the increase in infections in regions such as Ñuble, Bío Bío, La Araucanía and Magallanes. The contagions do not stop and the latter is the region most affected in all of Chile by the advance of the pandemic.

“It was the region that achieved the best indexes and today it has the worst figures in the country,” said Minister Enrique Paris in reference to the Magallanes Region. The head of the Health portfolio made an explicit call to the authorities and the inhabitants of Punta Arenas because it is in that commune where “the situation is most critical.”

According to what has been indicated by the Minsal, Magallanes has a rate of 343 per 100,000 inhabitants, the highest in Chile, said Paris, surpassing the rates of Arica, Tarapacá and Atacama.

“It is incomprehensible that this occurs (the rise) because it translates into a lack of concern from the community. But I call for the authorities of the region to coordinate as completely as possible to lower this rate,” said the Minister Paris emphasizing that Magellan yesterday reported 80 new cases and today 115 people were infected.

“I call on the health authority, which depends on us, to carry out its work fully,” attacked Paris, also questioning the inhabitants of the city “because they must respect health standards such as the mask and the touch remains.”

“God forbid we are going to have a very large number of patients in the hospital ICU again and, perhaps, hopefully not, a collapse,” concluded the head of the Health portfolio reiterating that “there is a responsibility of the inhabitants and the authorities “.

The Undersecretary of Healthcare Networks, Arturo Zúñiga, was in charge of delivering the numbers and indicated that in the last 24 hours 1,942 new cases were registered: 1,315 with symptoms, 554 asymptomatic and 73 without notification.

The total number of infections today reached 397,665 and of them 15,634 remain active.

The recovered patients total 371,179 people, according to the health authority.

Likewise, it reported that there are 1,027 patients admitted to intensive care units, with 742 of them connected to mechanical ventilators, of which 149 remain in critical condition. The fan availability is 577.

In addition, he highlighted that yesterday a record number of 31,981 CRP examinations was carried out (with a positivity of 6.07%) for a cumulative of 2,204,009. Finally, he indicated that there are 10,392 places with 5,258 users in 156 health residences throughout the country.

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