Chile Covid-19: Chile Faces Worst Death Toll With Over 1,000 Deaths

June 2, 2020 orinocotribune Chile, coronavirus, COVID-19, Neoliberalism, profits over people, Sebastian Pinera

Over 50 people died in the last 24 hours, the worst death toll in a single day according to official figures.

Chile’s health authorities on Sunday confirmed that the country has surpassed a thousand deaths caused by COVID-19, just on the worst day in terms of the number of deaths since the coronavirus arrived in the Latin American region.

Over 50 people died in the last 24 hours, the worst death toll in a single day.

The total number of deaths is 1,054 since the first case of COVID-19 was detected on March 3.

New positive cases totaled 4,830, the second highest number ever reported in the country, for a total of 99,688 diagnosed cases.

UPDATE: #Brazil registers total 514,849 cases of COVID-19, deaths rise to 29,314 – Health Ministry#SputnikUpdates https://t.co/bRu6wFXqzN

— Sputnik (@SputnikInt) May 31, 2020

“We are in the most difficult weeks,” Chile’s Health Undersecretary Paula Daza said, commenting that most of these patients are in the Metropolitan region, to which the capital Santiago de Chile belongs.

The government of Sebastian Pinera is among those governments worldwide joining Donal Trump in its underestimation of the virus, thus decision taking was delayed until the last minute.

Images of collapse funerary services and cemeteries have circulated on social media for weeks and many analyst talk about an under-counting of deaths.

Daza urged strict compliance with the quarantine, which is currently imposed in the capital area. In Santiago nearly 7 million people have been in home confinement for more than two weeks.

Chile has 1,383 patients hospitalized in intensive care units, of which 1,174 are on mechanical ventilators, and 318 are in critical condition.

In the last 24 hours, 19,120 coronavirus (CRP) tests were performed in Chile. Since the beginning of the pandemic in the country, 582,440 of these tests have been performed.

Featured image: Customers visit a pharmacy in downtown Santiago, Chile, May 30, 2020. | Photo: EFE

Source URL: Telesur English