A few hours from a new confinement of Santiago, the capital of Chili, Vivianette Yevenes was agitated, Friday, June 11, in the middle of a mountain of fabrics. “Every second is worth gold”, said the 64-year-old seamstress, whose studio overlooks a noisy and busy avenue in Ñuñoa, a town in « grand Santiago » . “I have to close my shop and I don’t know how I’m going to pay my rent, she confessed, disillusioned. But the hospitals are saturated, we have to make an effort… ” Since this weekend, the seven million inhabitants of Santiago have therefore been reconfigured, only outings to work, to heal or to refuel being allowed.
Faced with the new surge in cases of Covid-19, intensive care units are close to breaking down, with 97% occupancy. “The situation is out of control, observes Muriel Ramírez, epidemiologist. The transfer of patients is no longer possible, because, for the first time, the whole country is affected simultaneously. “ Hospitals refuse new patients and dispensaries have been hastily set up to receive people in respiratory distress.
The Gamma variant, a formidable “enemy”
Vaccination alone is not enough
, insists Muriel Ramírez. This is the whole Chilean paradox. With 47% of the 19 million Chileans, like Vivianette Yevenes, to have received two doses, the country ranks third on the world podium, behind Israel and Bahrain. Everything should have been better, if it had not been for a combination of negative factors.
First, CoronaVac, the Chinese vaccine 80% used in Chile (for 20% of Pfizer), is only 67% effective, according to the latest data from the Chilean Institute of Public Health. At the moment when a enemy
formidable, the Gamma variant, known as “Brazilian P1”, twice as contagious, even if it does not seem more lethal.
Also read. Covid-19. Big doubts remain around Chinese vaccines
“The majority of hospitalized patients are not vaccinated, emphasizes Álvaro Castillo, epidemiology researcher at Mayor University. This is a sign that CoronaVac is effective in limiting severe cases. “ But the Gamma virus has proliferated in the unvaccinated population, especially as protective gestures have relaxed.
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In a street in Santiago de Chile, last week: hard to imagine that the new confinement will be strictly observed when a third of workers depend on the informal sector. © Alan Loquet
Álvaro Castillo insists on the erratic communication of the authorities: “Authorization to go on vacation in January (when the epidemic started to rise again) and the mobility pass, launched in May, are contradictory signals sent to the population. “ The curfew is often neglected and the police checks irregular. And as the economic aid promised by the government is struggling to arrive, it is difficult to imagine that the new confinement will be strictly observed, while a third of workers depend on the informal sector.
With the arrival of the southern winter, Chile, which has recorded 30,500 deaths linked to Covid-19, is preparing to live through complicated days. This did not prevent the entourage of President Piñera from announcing an official trip to France at the end of June, at the height of the expected epidemic wave… before giving it up a few hours later. A symbol of management that is too often out of date.
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